Posted by
Bert Chapman on Thursday, August 04, 2011 5:55:24 PM
The debt agreement reached earlier this week is more positive than negative, but much work still remains to be done. Controlling only 1/2 of the legislative branch, conservatives still were able to roll the increasingly inept President enough to begin the long and painful process of budget cutting. While I would have preferred that the debt limit not be raised, pragmatically I realize that we won more than we lost and agree with Speaker Boehner's assertion that we got 98% of what we wanted. To get the whole economic enchilada, however, we need to retain control of the House next year, win the Senate, and win the presidency. Next in line in selecting the six Republican members of the super committee which will have the power to enact spending cuts. The Senators I recommend for this are Kyl of Arizona, Coburn of Oklahoma, and Toomey of Pennsylvania. They will provide conservative fiscal expertise, different levels of senatorial experience, and geographic balance. Representatives I recommend include Ryan of Wisconsin, Hensarling of Texas, and I haven't decided my third representative yet.
While we are right to reject personal and corporate income tax increases as options, I think we should be open to other revenue enhancers including closing certain loopholes. Corporate jet owners should be willing to fly coach to safe on business expenses and I'm strongly in favor of income tax surcharges on persons of opposite sex sharing living quarters and same sex couples. In terms of cutting the budget we should go through every cabinet level department and independent agency and look for programmatic duplication and obsolescence. For instance, the Agriculture Department does not need the Rural Utilities Service which is a New Deal era agency created to bring electricity to the farm. We can also cut some segments of defense spending without harming national security. For instance, defense procurement and contracting costs can be trimmed significantly, we can consolidate defense scientific research agencies, trim healthcare expenses and defense pension expenses, and reduce duplicative offices within DOD's civilian bureaucracy which impinge on combat readiness. Eliminating unnecessary weapons systems such as the second engine for the Joint Strike Fighter would also help as would not providing funding to implement the repeal of "Don't ask, don't tell."
We need to provide our Representatives and Senators with recommendations for specific programs to eliminate or reduce during the next three months as the super committee begins its work. Today's 513 point fall of the Dow Jones market, continuing rises in unemployment, and declining economic growth statistics make economic recovery our highest national priority. Mitt Romney's campaign has released an extremely effective campaign ad documenting on how much unemployment has gone up in Chicago since Obama became President. If a president can't even improve economic conditions in his hometown, than you know for certain he will fail miserably at national economic policy as the past 2 1/2 years of his presidency demonstrate. Sadly, it appears we are about to enter a double dip recession and it's President Barack Obama's whose administration is SOLELY responsible. He cannot blame congressional Republicans or the long gone George W. Bush Administration for his own egregious economic incompetence.