CLT UPDATE
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Taxpayer Week coming up!
Americans have built the
single greatest nation in all of human history. But America's
exceptionalism was not preordained. Every generation has had to
confront and solve serious challenges and, because they did,
each has left the next better off. Until now.
Our generation's greatest
challenge is an economy that isn't growing, alongside a national
debt that is. If we fail to confront this, our children will be
the first Americans ever to inherit a country worse off than the
one their parents were given....
In fact, it's nothing more
than putting off the tough decisions until after the next
election. We cannot afford to continue waiting. This may be our
last chance to force Washington to tackle the central economic
issue of our time.
"Raising America's debt limit
is a sign of leadership failure." So said then-Sen. Obama in
2006, when he voted against raising the debt ceiling by less
than $800 billion to a new limit of $8.965 trillion. As
America's debt now approaches its current $14.29 trillion limit,
we are witnessing leadership failure of epic proportions.
I will vote to defeat an
increase in the debt limit unless it is the last one we ever
authorize and is accompanied by a plan for fundamental tax
reform, an overhaul of our regulatory structure, a cut to
discretionary spending, a balanced-budget amendment, and reforms
to save Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
The Wall Street Journal
Thursday, March 30, 2011
Why I Won't Vote to Raise the Debt Limit
Everyone in Washington knows how to cut spending. The time to
start is now.
By Marco Rubio
Nothing like Paul Ryan's
budget, "The Path to Prosperity: Restoring America's Promise,"
has been heard from a Republican since February 1981, when
Ronald Reagan issued his presidency's first budget message,
"America's New Beginning: A Program for Economic Recovery." The
echoes reach beyond the titles....
Democrats and Republicans in
recent years have both taken to preaching to us every Sunday
morning about looming damnation from debt and deficits — even as
they made both bigger. Hypocrisy aside, they are right. On its
current path, spending on Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid
will turn us into a nation of vampires, feeding off each other
to stay alive....
To win and run the country,
promising voters the eternal brimstone of deficit reduction
isn't enough — and Paul Ryan knows it, just as Ronald Reagan
knew it at another time of economic crisis.
Thus Reagan in his 1981 budget
message: "The motivation and incentive of our people — to supply
new goods and services and earn additional income for their
families — are the most precious resources of our nation's
economy. The goal of this administration is to nurture the
strength and vitality of the American people."
Paul Ryan, in his budget's
introduction: "Decline is antithetical to the American Idea.
America is a nation conceived in liberty, dedicated to equality
and defined by limitless opportunity. . . . This budget's goal
is to keep it exceptional, and to preserve its promise for the
next generation." ...
There is a belief about that
Ryan's budget is bucking the odds. Don't underestimate its
appeal. That's been done before.
The Wall Street Journal
Thursday, April 7, 2011
A Ronald Reagan Budget
A Ronald Reagan Budget Paul Ryan's budget offers much more
than
deficit-reduction brimstone.
By Daniel Henninger
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Barbara Anderson's CLT
Commentary
Congratulations to the Tea Party for
winning the first skirmish of Revolution 2012!
Congressional Democrats offered no
cuts for the current (ongoing) fiscal year. Republican U.S. House
Speaker Boehner started at $32 billion, while Congressional Tea Partiers
wanted $62 billion in cuts. They all settled at $38.5 billion, a nice
start to the real battles that begin soon: The vote to raise the
national debt ceiling as the U.S. hits the current limit of $14.3
trillion, and the debates on
Congressman Paul
Ryan’s House budget with $6.2 trillion in cuts over the next ten
years, what we call another nice start.
We urge our U.S. Senators and
Congressmen to either refuse to raise the debt ceiling unless serious
reforms pass with it (See U.S. Senator Marco Rubio's op-ed column below)
or just admit that there is no debt ceiling and they intend to spend us
into oblivion.
This coming week is dedicated to
Taxpayer Activists. Here is a fun schedule. CLT will be doing news
releases on some of them.
Today, Saturday, April 9:
Marathon showing of the outstanding miniseries “The
Kennedys” that Chip and I have been watching all week. It was made
for the History Channel, which was pressured by “somebodys” not to show
it, none of the other channels would run it either. So of course I had
to watch it, found it on the REELZ channel, cable channel 198 on my TV.
A "marathon" runs today from 2-8 pm bringing you up to date if you've
missed it; tomorrow's (Sunday) "marathon" runs from 1-7 pm, the two-hour
finale at 8-10 pm tomorrow night. But of course you know the plot
so you can pick it up anytime. Excellent casting, drama, and history as
some of us remember it.
Tuesday, April 12:
Tax Freedom Day, according to the Washington-based Tax Foundation,
for the United States.
Thursday, April 14: Tax
Freedom Day for
Massachusetts. Also, another hearing at the State House on
constitutional amendments attacking the initiative petition process this
time in the Judiciary Committee at 11 am, Room A-1. Not asking activists
to attend; Chip Faulkner testified at the Election Laws Committee on
similar bills last month, and we’ll send a memo. Common Cause and Kris
Mineau’s Massachusetts Family Institute are covering.
Friday, April 15:
Traditional Tax Filing Day.
The Boston Tea Party and various local Tea Parties will be rallying
on Boston Common from 4-6 pm. Tim Pawlenty is special guest this year.
Chip Faulkner plans to be there.
Also Friday: The opening
of the long-awaited film “Atlas
Shrugged” based on
Ayn Rand’s great and prescient novel, updated to this decade in the
movie. So far, it’s listed playing in Boston and several suburban
theatres. Important to go this weekend to show popularity, spread it
farther and longer.
Find the nearest theater to you.
Saturday, April 16: The
Independence/Cape Ann Tea Party rally on Saturday, April 16, at Riley
Plaza in Salem from 1-3 pm. Chip Ford and I plan to be there, but check before you go
to make sure it’s on.
Monday, April 18:
Patriot’s Day. Celebration of the FIRST American Revolution, as
we proceed with the second one, heading for November 2012!
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Barbara Anderson |
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The Wall Street Journal
Thursday, March 30, 2011
Why I Won't Vote to Raise the Debt Limit
Everyone in Washington knows how to cut spending. The time to start
is now.
By Marco Rubio
Americans have built the single greatest nation in all of human
history. But America's exceptionalism was not preordained. Every
generation has had to confront and solve serious challenges and,
because they did, each has left the next better off. Until now.
Our generation's greatest challenge is an economy that isn't
growing, alongside a national debt that is. If we fail to confront
this, our children will be the first Americans ever to inherit a
country worse off than the one their parents were given.
Current federal policies make it harder for job creators to start
and grow businesses. Taxes on individuals are complicated and set to
rise in less than two years. Corporate taxes will soon be the
highest in the industrialized world. Federal agencies torment job
creators with an endless string of rules and regulations.
On top of all this, we have an unsustainable national debt. Leaders
of both parties have grown our government for decades by spending
money we didn't have. To pay for it, they borrowed $4 billion a day,
leaving us with today's $14 trillion debt. Half of that debt is held
by foreign investors, mostly China. And there is no plan to stop. In
fact, President Obama's latest budget request spends more than $46
trillion over the next decade. Under this plan, public debt will
equal 87% of our economy in less than 10 years. This will scare away
job creators and lead to higher taxes, higher interest rates and
greater inflation.
Betting on America used to be a sure thing, but job creators see the
warning signs that our leaders ignore. Even the world's largest bond
fund, PIMCO, recently dumped its holdings of U.S. debt.
We're therefore at a defining moment in American history. In a few
weeks, we will once again reach our legal limit for borrowing, the
so-called debt ceiling. The president and others want to raise this
limit. They say it is the mature, responsible thing to do.
In fact, it's nothing more than putting off the tough decisions
until after the next election. We cannot afford to continue waiting.
This may be our last chance to force Washington to tackle the
central economic issue of our time.
"Raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure." So
said then-Sen. Obama in 2006, when he voted against raising the debt
ceiling by less than $800 billion to a new limit of $8.965 trillion.
As America's debt now approaches its current $14.29 trillion limit,
we are witnessing leadership failure of epic proportions.
I will vote to defeat an increase in the debt limit unless it is the
last one we ever authorize and is accompanied by a plan for
fundamental tax reform, an overhaul of our regulatory structure, a
cut to discretionary spending, a balanced-budget amendment, and
reforms to save Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
There is still time to accomplish all this. Rep. Dave Camp has
already introduced proposals to lower and simplify our tax rates,
close loopholes, and make permanent low rates on capital gains and
dividends. Even Mr. Obama has endorsed the idea of lowering our
corporate tax rate. Sen. Rand Paul, meanwhile, has a bill that would
require an up-or-down vote on "major" regulations, those that cost
the economy $100 million or more. And the House has already passed a
spending plan this year that lowered discretionary spending by $862
billion over 10 years.
Such reductions are important, but nondefense discretionary spending
is a mere 19% of the budget. Focusing on this alone would lead to
draconian cuts to essential and legitimate programs. To get our debt
under control, we must reform and save our entitlement programs.
No changes should be made to Medicare and Social Security for people
who are currently in the system, like my mother. But people decades
away from retirement, like me, must accept that reforms are
necessary if we want Social Security and Medicare to exist at all by
the time we are eligible for them.
Finally, instead of simply raising the debt limit, we should
reassure job creators by setting a firm statutory cap on our public
debt-to-GDP ratio. A comprehensive plan would wind down our debt to
sustainable levels of approximately 60% within a decade and no more
than half of the economy shortly thereafter. If Congress fails to
meet these debt targets, automatic across-the-board spending
reductions should be triggered to close the gap. These public debt
caps could go in tandem with a Constitutional balanced budget
amendment.
Some say we will go into default if we don't increase the debt
limit. But if we simply raise it once again, without a real plan to
bring spending under control and get our economy growing, America
faces the very real danger of a catastrophic economic crisis.
I know that by writing this, I am inviting political attack. When I
proposed reforms to Social Security during my campaign, my opponent
spent millions on attack ads designed to frighten seniors. But
demagoguery is the last refuge of the spineless politician willing
to do anything to win the next election.
Whether they admit it or not, everyone in Washington knows how to
solve these problems. What is missing is the political will to do
it. I ran for the U.S. Senate because I want my children to inherit
what I inherited: the greatest nation in human history. It's not too
late. The 21st century can also be the American Century. Our people
are ready. Now it's time for their leaders to join them.
Mr. Rubio, a Republican, is a U.S. senator from Florida.
The Wall Street Journal
Thursday, April 7, 2011
A Ronald Reagan Budget
A Ronald Reagan Budget Paul Ryan's budget offers much more than
deficit-reduction brimstone.
By Daniel Henninger
Nothing like Paul Ryan's budget, "The Path to Prosperity: Restoring
America's Promise," has been heard from a Republican since February
1981, when Ronald Reagan issued his presidency's first budget
message, "America's New Beginning: A Program for Economic Recovery."
The echoes reach beyond the titles.
Both budgets announced a clear break with the Washington status quo.
Reagan reversed the policies of the Carter presidency and the
infamous stagflation years of weak economic growth, 18% interest
rates and 14% inflation. Reagan's 1981 message posited four
reversals: "a substantial reduction" in spending; "a significant
reduction in federal tax rates"; relief from federal regulation; and
"a monetary policy consistent with those policies."
In our day, the problems are the entitlement-spending time bombs and
the twin killers of low growth and high unemployment. The Ryan
budget proposes to defuse the Medicare and Medicaid bombs, while,
like Reagan, overhauling the tax system to "unleash the genius of
America's workers, investors and entrepreneurs."
Paul Ryan is routinely described as wonkish, a policy-detail guy
short on political reality. But nervous Republicans need to
understand that Reagan's political relevance to the Ryan budget, and
to the 2012 presidential campaigns pulling away from the curb, is
deeper than these details.
Ronald Reagan was not a nag. Reagan offered the politics of
possibility, not the politics of impending doom.
Democrats and Republicans in recent years have both taken to
preaching to us every Sunday morning about looming damnation from
debt and deficits — even as they made both bigger. Hypocrisy aside,
they are right. On its current path, spending on Medicare, Social
Security and Medicaid will turn us into a nation of vampires,
feeding off each other to stay alive.
However true and awful this prospect, "Repent!" has no history as
the road to the White House. People don't want to vote for the king
of hell. They want a president able to lead the United States
forward and upward. Reagan was a compulsive optimist, an instinct
often anathema in oh-so-serious Washington.
No presidential campaign commercial has been more ridiculed by
pundits and the press than Ronald Reagan's in 1984, "It's morning in
America, again." Running against what was mocked as Reagan's "gauzy"
America was the Democratic scold, Walter Mondale. Reagan carried 49
states with a 58% majority; Mr. Mondale carried his home state of
Minnesota (by a whisker).
To win and run the country, promising voters the eternal brimstone
of deficit reduction isn't enough — and Paul Ryan knows it, just as
Ronald Reagan knew it at another time of economic crisis.
Thus Reagan in his 1981 budget message: "The motivation and
incentive of our people — to supply new goods and services and earn
additional income for their families — are the most precious
resources of our nation's economy. The goal of this administration
is to nurture the strength and vitality of the American people."
Paul Ryan, in his budget's introduction: "Decline is antithetical to
the American Idea. America is a nation conceived in liberty,
dedicated to equality and defined by limitless opportunity. . . .
This budget's goal is to keep it exceptional, and to preserve its
promise for the next generation."
One finds high Cs of optimism in every budget message (well, maybe
not the Carter budgets). So, too, Barack Obama's initial February
2009 budget. But the Obama prescriptions reflected Democratic Party
politics of our time, which insists that prosperity begins inside
someone's head in Washington and then flows out to the country. The
country is a taker of what Washington creates or allows — whether
the Obama health-care plan or anti-carbon regulations. Reagan-Ryan
argues that prosperity is born inside the heads of several hundred
million citizens, and that the government's first responsibility is
not to kill the yeast.
Both the Beltway Democrats and the conservative deficit hawks share
the conceit that the nation's future revolves completely around what
they do in Washington. This reduces the people to bystanders. That
may work for Europe's parliamentary systems, but it's not the way
things work here. Successful politics here draws people into its
drama, and that means offering something bigger to believe in than
deficit reduction. And guess what, progressives: The "safety net"
isn't what moves a nation, either. Think bigger.
Barack Obama, with rhetoric alone, conveyed in 2008 that he was
enlisting the whole nation to participate in his sweeping vision. He
has not sustained the sweep or the vision. Instead, he withdrew into
a truly wonkish world of Beltway-driven policy.
Paul Ryan's budget is inevitably about what Washington does (or
refuses to do). But its underlying rationale is to reorder the
relationship between Washington and the American people—country
first, Washington behind. That notion is what November's startling
tea party and independent vote for the GOP was about, and what the
party's Senate and House freshmen appear to understand. Properly
understood, this is the first presidential budget message of the new
Republican Party.
There is a belief about that Ryan's budget is bucking the odds.
Don't underestimate its appeal. That's been done before.
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Citizens for Limited Taxation ▪
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