The Debt Bomb: A Decade of DC Spending is Driving America Closer to an Economic Apocalypse

Alexis Garcia reports on America’s exploding debt. Experts blame entitlements like Social Security and government spending. But what is the solution? Can we raise taxes without crushing the economy and the middle class? Does Obama really want to lower the debt, or does he support continued deficit spending? See interviews with Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Brian Riedl, Jason Peuquet and former Congressman Ernest Istook (R-OK).

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The hits on my website have taken off the last two months since I have taken up this subject of potential federal spending cuts and the suggestions that I have passed on to Senator Mark Pryor’s office. I received this email below from Senator Pryor’s office concerning my earlier emails to his office concerning possible federal spending cuts:

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May 24, 2011

Dear Mr. Hatcher,

Thank you for contacting me regarding the fiscal policies of the federal government. I appreciate hearing from you.

Like many Arkansans, I am deeply concerned about current spending levels and our ever-growing national debt. I have consistently said that everything must be on the table when it comes to reducing our debt and deficit, and I mean it. I have introduced legislation to eliminate ineffective and unnecessary programs, and I am prepared to use my position in Congress to further reduce wasteful spending.

As a nation, we have been living beyond our means for a long time. I believe we can create a long-term budget plan that significantly reduces our national debt while maintaining adequate funding for our nation’s priorities. This challenge must include reducing spending, addressing entitlement programs, and reforming the tax code. Balancing the budget will require both parties to work together to achieve this goal.

Hearing from Arkansans such as yourself helps me to make better decisions, and I will be sure to keep your specific comments in mind as I continue working to come up with better fiscal solutions for the American people.

Again, thank you for contacting me. I value your input. Please do not hesitate to contact me or my office regarding this or any other matter of concern to you.
Sincerely,

Mark Pryor
United States Senate

Save money at the pump by taking the Drive Smarter Challenge: www.drivesmarterchallenge.org

Please Note, this is not a monitored email account. Due to the sheer volume of correspondence I receive, I ask that constituents please contact me via my website with any responses or additional concerns.

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Below are some of the previous posts I have made about Senator Pryor:

Mark Levin discusses the two amendments needed to re-establish Constitutionalism as well as other things that need to be done to fix the issues facing the nation. Mark is brilliant at keep his eye on the objective and does this every night on http://www.marklevinshow.com. This excerpt is from 1/27/2011.

Steve Brawner in his article “Safer roads and balanced budgets,” Arkansas News Bureau, April 13, 2011, noted:

The disagreement is over the solutions — on what spending to cut; what taxes to raise (basically none ever, according to Boozman); whether or not to enact a balanced budget amendment (Boozman says yes; Pryor no); and on what policies would promote the kind of economic growth that would make this a little easier.

Dan Mitchell wrote a great article called “Why a Tax Limitation/Balanced Budget Amendment is Needed to Control Spending,” Cato Institute, Feb 19, 1997. I will be posted portions of that article the next few days. Here is the fourth portion:

How Would the Amendment Work?

Several critics have charged that a balanced budget amendment is unenforceable. What, for example, would happen if the budget approved by lawmakers used overly optimistic economic assumptions but the actual numbers threatened to dip into the red? Would Congress be forced to revisit the budget halfway through the fiscal year? If the fiscal year ended and there was just a minimal deficit — even less than one dollar — would a constitutional battle follow?

These concerns can be precluded if the amendment is drafted properly. The key is to include a clause requiring a supermajority vote to issue new debt. Such a provision would make the balanced budget amendment self-enforcing. Take the example outlined above. Lawmakers could use every budget gimmick, pull every smoke-and-mirrors trick out of the hat, and make the most ridiculous economic assumptions, and it would do no good; once the fiscal year began and spending threatened to outpace revenue, they would be unable to issue new debt without a three-fifths or two-thirds vote.

Thus, failure to include the supermajority requirement to issue debt would be a serious mistake. It either would make a mockery of the amendment (lawmakers might try to use outlandish economic assumptions to evade the intended fiscal discipline) or would result in legal challenges that could give the federal judiciary unwarranted control over fiscal policy. Indeed, not only is the three-fifths vote requirement on new debt critical to the amendment’s success, but it actually makes the main provision — barring outlays that exceed receipts — superfluous.

FILE – In this April 15, 2011 file photo, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty speaks at the Greater Boston Tea Party’s third annual “Tax Day” rally on Boston Common in Boston. The former Minnesota governor on Sunday, May 22, 2011 released an Internet video ahead of a public appearance Monday in Iowa, where he planned to formally enter the race for the 2012 GOP nomination. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson, File)

The Associated Press reported this morning:

— Republican Tim Pawlenty on Monday pledged to be a president who levels with the American people and accused President Barack Obama of doing just the opposite as the former Minnesota governor launched his candidacy for the GOP nomination in a pivotal state.

“President Obama’s policies have failed. But more than that, he won’t even tell us the truth about what it’s really going to take to get out of the mess we’re in,” Pawlenty said in prepared remarks. “I’m going to take a different approach. I am going to tell you the truth.”

Pawlenty, who isn’t well known nationally and ranks low in popularity polling, was making his first campaign appearance since announcing his bid for the Republican nomination in an Internet video late Sunday. It came just hours after Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels’ decision against a bid jolted the GOP race and brought the field into clearer focus.

The setting for Pawlenty’s appearance – one block away from the Iowa State Capitol – underscores how important the state’s leadoff presidential caucuses are to his candidacy as he tries to take advantage of Daniels’ absence to position himself as the principle challenger to Mitt Romney. The former Massachusetts governor lost his first bid in 2008 and again is seeking the nomination of a party that historically has nominated a candidate who had run previously.

Given an opportunity to go after Romney in a Monday morning appearance on network television, Palwenty demurred, saying he’d prefer to talk about his own good presidential traits than criticize others. He did acknowledge he probably wouldn’t be able to compete with the former Massachusetts governor in terms of fundraising.

In a highly scripted multi-format campaign introduction spread out over several days, Pawlenty is casting himself as a straight-talking, truth-telling candidate and seeking to convince a Republican primary electorate searching for a hard-nosed nominee that he’s tough enough to take on Obama, the Democratic incumbent.

Pawlenty, who must win the party nomination before getting the chance to take on Obama, virtually ignores his GOP rivals in an announcement video, a column published in USA Today and in excerpts of his speech made available by his advisers.

Instead, he castigates Obama, saying in the excerpts: “America is in big trouble, and it won’t get fixed if we keep going down the same path.” The Republican cast himself as a can-do candidate, saying that Minnesota and Washington confront the same issues: taxes, spending, health care, unions, and the courts. And he said that his record as governor shows that he knows how to “lead a liberal state in a conservative direction.”

“Politicians are often afraid that if they’re too honest, they might lose an election. I’m afraid that in 2012, if we’re not honest enough, we may lose our country,” Pawlenty said, and then outlined bedrock conservative principles. “If we want to grow our economy, we need to shrink our government. If we want to create jobs, we need to encourage job creators. If we want our children to be free to pursue their dreams, we can’t shackle them with our debts. This is a time for truth.”

And, he added: “the truth is, we’re all in this together. So we need to work to get out of this mess together. I’ll unite our party and unite our nation.”

Pawlenty’s Monday visit was his 14th to Iowa since the 2008 election, more than any candidate except former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.

The little-known Midwesterner hopes an Iowa victory will give him a boost into next-up New Hampshire and beyond, a strategy that carries potential benefits and risks.

If he wins Iowa, as he says he must, Pawlenty could emerge as the chief rival to Romney, who lost the GOP nomination in 2008 and ranks higher in polls this year. If Pawlenty falls short, however, he’ll have to reevaluate the viability of his bid for the Republican nomination, despite the two years’ groundwork he’s laid in his neighboring state.

“In Iowa, he is all in. All his cards are right out on the table,” said Bob Haus, a veteran Iowa GOP strategist who managed Fred Thompson’s 2008 caucus campaign and is uncommitted for 2012.

Pawlenty has used his visits to appeal to many of the sometimes fractious segments of Iowa’s GOP base, seeking to compete for all parts of the party.

“He fits with the social conservatives, has the background of a budget cutter, and he’s strong with national security conservatives. Plus, he’s a good guy, and he’s here, working it,” said Richard Schwarm, a confidant of Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad and a former state GOP chairman who so far hasn’t chosen a candidate to back in the caucuses.

Strategically, Pawlenty has lined up an all-star team of consultants deeply rooted in Iowa Republican campaigns, winning presidential campaigns or, in some cases, both.

They include Iowa natives Terry Nelson and Sara Fagen, former political aides to President George W. Bush, who began working in the 1990s on statewide and caucus campaigns. Also on Pawlenty’s team are state GOP operatives with strong ties to John McCain’s 2008 campaign, as well as some former aides to Romney’s 2008 caucus campaign.

Pawlenty also has hired staff in New Hampshire and courted the powerbrokers in the nation’s first primary state. But he has less riding there than he does in Iowa, where he has said he has a cultural kinship and where fewer candidates may compete aggressively.

Pawlenty appeared Monday on NBC’s “Today” show and CBS’s “The Early Show.”

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney

Possible 2012 presidential hopeful, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks to a group of small business owners on the economy during a visit to Meetze plumbing in Irmo, S.C. Saturday May, 21, 2011

Jim Davenport wrote for the Associated Press on May 21:

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina wasn’t kind to Mitt Romney in 2008, but the ex-Massachusetts governor and presidential contender is hoping for a better fate in this Southern bellwether in 2012.

He made his first trip to the state since forming a presidential exploratory committee, plying a crowd with mustard-based barbecue and boiled peanuts, photo ops with cute kids and meeting with business owners carping about jobless benefits and illegal immigration. He left with a pair of endorsements from state legislators.

If nothing else, the mustard-based barbecue was a bold choice in a state with loyalties split mostly between mustard- and vinegar-based concoctions.

A crowd of about 40 in a hot warehouse stacked with plumbing supplies cheered when he said it was time for politicians to spend less time thinking about getting re-elected and more time on “thinking about how to get the country on the right track and put Americans back to work.”

These are relatively easy times for Romney.

He hasn’t formally entered the race though he’s regarded as the frontrunner. He’s raising cash faster than likely opponents and gets to choose when to engage them. He’s finessing the perception of his big liability: the Massachusetts health care law that Obama credits as the template for the national health care system Republicans abhor.

Saturday was a soft-opening of sorts in a state that beat Romney up in 2008. He spent loads of cash and time here, but bailed days before the first-in-the-South primary’s polls opened and he knew he couldn’t win.

In 2008, Romney positioned himself early as the one to beat, building a campaign rivaled only by Arizona Sen. John McCain’s as the state’s best financed, staffed and endorsed. Romney earned endorsements from U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint and Bob Jones, the now-retired chancellor of Christian fundamentalist Bob Jones University in Greenville.

But questions about Romney’s Mormon faith dogged him. He couldn’t persuade religious conservatives to look beyond their skepticism over that or his reversals on social issues such as abortion and gay rights.

Warren Tompkins, a Columbia political consultant on Romney’s 2008 campaign, said the campaign team was “never sure how to deal with it. Hopefully, they will not repeat that mistake.”

McCain won the state, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee claimed many of the Christian and social conservatives. Romney’s team fled to Florida, a richer delegate prize, when polling days before the South Carolina vote showed that Romney wouldn’t win or even come in second.

Romney has a single staffer working in South Carolina, David Raad, who knows religion is certain to come up again, particularly if Jon Huntsman, Utah’s former governor and a fellow Mormon, enters the race as expected.

“I’m sure that people will consider religion in this race,” Raad said, but he added: “We hope to get back to the issues that matter to a lot of Americans.”

The economy is what Romney emphasized Saturday. He met privately with about 30 business owners in nearby Chapin before the town hall and barbecue buffet at the plumbing business.

Romney said he’d spoken with South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, one of his backers in 2008.

She has told candidates they have to address the fight between the National Labor Relations Board and Boeing Co. over a plant expansion in North Charleston. The federal agency’s complaint says the aircraft maker’s move was a response to union strikes and a violation of law.

Romney said the NLRB was taking away South Carolina’s ability to compete for jobs.

“How in the world can the president justify the federal government taking power from South Carolina and not allowing South Carolina to compete on a fair and level playing field,” Romney said. “It’s simply unexcusable.”

Kevin Meetze, the plumbing company owner, said his top concern was too-generous unemployment benefits. South Carolina legislators are considering cutting the maximum jobless benefits workers can get from 26 weeks to 20 weeks. Meanwhile, Meetze said extended federal benefits are a problem.

“We’ve been hiring for the past couple of years during this recession, but it’s hard to get people to come to work when they’re making a pretty decent salary off the government,” Meetze said.

When asked about moves to curtail state benefits, Romney said that was a state issue he wouldn’t address.

Romney, who’s expected to enter the race in the coming weeks, has laid more groundwork than others in a state where Republicans brag that they’ve picked the winner of the GOP nomination contest for 30 years.

In last year’s elections, his political action committees poured more than $86,000 into campaigns, including $63,000 to Gov. Nikki Haley’s campaign.

She supported Romney last time when she was in the Legislature, but is remaining neutral so far. Her endorsement would be a major prize.

Romney came away with endorsements from Rep. Nathan Ballentine, an Irmo Republican who was Haley’s state House colleague and remains a close ally, as well as from state Rep. Chip Huggins of Columbia.

Meanwhile, a fundraising group with ties to President Barack Obama launched a television ad against Romney in South Carolina in advance of his visit.

The ad by Priorities USA Action, which was founded by two former top aides in the Obama White House, criticizes Romney for supporting a House GOP budget plan that would privatize Medicare for future retirees.

Romney says he generally supports the proposal offered by U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan but details of what he will offer will be different.

“The Ryan plan and my plan are on the same page. We have the same objectives. My plan is different than his — it’s not identical,” Romney said.

Senator Mark Pryor wants our ideas on how to cut federal spending. Take a look at this video clip below:

Senator Pryor has asked us to send our ideas to him at cutspending@pryor.senate.gov and I have done so in the past and will continue to do so in the future.

Yesterday I emailed to this above address and I got this email back from Senator Pryor’s office:

Please note, this is not a monitored email account. Due to the sheer volume of correspondence I receive, I ask that constituents please contact me via my website with any responses or additional concerns. If you would like a specific reply to your message, please visit http://pryor.senate.gov/contact. This system ensures that I will continue to keep Arkansas First by allowing me to better organize the thousands of emails I get from Arkansans each week and ensuring that I have all the information I need to respond to your particular communication in timely manner.  I appreciate you writing. I always welcome your input and suggestions. Please do not hesitate to contact me on any issue of concern to you in the future.

Therefore, I went to the website and sent this email below:

Here are a few more I just emailed to him myself.

Senator Rand Paul on Feb 7, 2011 wrote the article “A Modest $500 Billion Proposal: My spending cuts would keep 85% of government funding and not touch Social Security,” Wall Street Journal and he observed:

Here are some of his specific suggestions:

General Services Administration

Agency/Program Funding Level Savings % Decrease
GSA $343 M $1.936 B 85%
The Government Services Administration is yet another example of a government agency formed with the purpose of
serving other government agencies. Part of expecting the government to run in a streamlined fashion is expecting agencies to be capable of managing their own real estate, travel necessities, and supply purchases. Having an agency dedicated to providing the infrastructure for big government only facilitates the further growth of government.

The problem with social security  

David John, a Senior research Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, explains his position on Social Security as it relates to taxes and health care. He suggests it would be a good solution for the government to raise the age of retirement.