Recently 12 of the US elected officials were given the simple task of cutting $1.2 Trillion over a 10 year period from the budget. They of course were unsuccessful and finger pointed.
On the surface this appears a large amount until it is viewed in the proper perspective. That perspective supplied by Larry Levin a commodities broker, who enlightens us “that is $120 billion in a $15 trillion per year economy. Said another way, and using numbers a regular [person] can understand, this is like saying that if you spent $15,000 per year for your household – you could NOT find even $120.00 crummy dollars to cut.”
The problem is government quite simply does not want to “cut government” even when programs or departments are a dismal failure. Several examples of dismal failure are:
After several years, prohibition became a failure in North America and elsewhere, as bootlegging (rum-running) became widespread and organized crime took control of the distribution of alcohol. Prohibition generally came to an end in the late 1920s or early 1930s in most of North America.
President Nixon launched the US government’s “War On Drugs” during his term in office. In June 2011 the Global Commission on Drug Policy released a critical report on the War on Drugs, declaring “The global war on drugs has failed, with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world.”
The Heritage Organization audited the U.S. Department of Education spending on elementary and secondary education. It found that with more and more taxpayer dollars being spent “there’s little reason to believe even these dramatic funding increases will lead to improvements in student learning in American schools. Since the early 1970s, inflation-adjusted federal spending per pupil has doubled. Over that period, student performance has not markedly improved, according to the long-term National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), which is designed to measure historical trends.”
The website “Cost of War” has tabulated the war cost to the US Taxpayer at $1.3 Trillion since 2001 and this does not include the cost of lives, and suffering of the people.
According to federation for American Immigration Reform(fair) ,illegal immigration costs the US taxpayer $113 billion per year.
The current real unemployment rate in the US is about 16% or 1 in every 6 people that want to work are unemployed according to the U6 category of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The real number is closer to 20%. Additionally 46 million US citizens are receiving food stamps (SNAP). If you remember the US government extended unemployment benefits for many people to a period of 2 years, instead of finding a way to get the people back to work. Recently Obama criticized the Republican elected officials for not co-operating in a jobs program to get the people back to work. Why wasn’t this “jobs program” proposed earlier on? Especially during the 2 years of unemployment insurance payouts!
The point here is simply IF you are running a business and something you attempt does not work within a very limited time, you quit doing it, right? Obviously, these programs don’t work and should they not be dropped? The definition of insanity truly applies here doesn’t it? Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Voting Democrat or Republican gets the same result, when viewed properly. It is time for a true “Change of the Guard”, the public has a chance to replace 6,780 state legislators and 468 federal legislators in the 2012 election. If these were replaced with people from the OWS movement in the US there might be a chance for a more responsive and appropriately sized government. At any rate there is a chance for over 7,000 jobs to the current unemployed.
Copyright ? 2011 JD Durham
JD Durham is a World Class Technician, an Automotive Hall of Fame honoree with 45 years experience in the automotive service and repair industry and a staff writer. Visit Straight Talk Automotive for scan tool obd2 diagnostic, and obd2 scan tool software at fantastic pricing.
