
 |
|
May 22, 2013
John Thorne:
They launched the 'Arab Spring' but now yearn for the good old days of a strongman
May 20, 2013
Richard A. Serrano: Is Meir Kahane's assassin now a changed man?
Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star
The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting
May 13, 2013
Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation
David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church
May 10, 2013
Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be
May 8, 2013
Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas
Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate
Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility
May 6, 2013
May 3, 2013
Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine
April 29, 2013
Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust
Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?
Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA
April 26, 2013
Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty
April 24, 2013
|
| |
Jewish World Review
Jan. 20, 2009
/ 24 Teves 5769
INSOLVENT!
By
Cal Thomas
| 
|
|
|
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
The late Edward Bennett Williams, attorney and owner of The Washington Redskins, once said of his coach, George Allen: "I gave him an unlimited expense account and he exceeded it."
That is how many Americans feel about the federal government. Though it has unlimited possibilities for spending, it regularly exceeds them. Who lives like this? Who could? When your credit card debt is too high, you have to pay it off and reduce spending. Government lives in an alternate universe, declaring that while debt is bad, we have to incur more debt in order to get out of debt. Try that argument when MasterCard calls to say you're over your limit.
We speak of debt in the trillions of dollars as if we were talking about a slight discrepancy in the checkbook. Few can fathom the hole we are digging for ourselves.
House Minority Leader John Boehner, who represents a party with unclean hands when it comes to deficit spending, nevertheless has compiled a useful list of "fun facts" about the spending bill crafted by House Democrats.
Boehner says the Democrats' massive spending bill will cost every American household $6,700 in additional debt and that the total cost of just this one piece of legislation is nearly as much as the annual discretionary budget for the entire federal government.
| FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO INFLUENTIAL NEWSLETTER |
| Every weekday NewsAndOpinion.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". HUNDREDS of columnists and cartoonists regularly appear. Sign up for the daily update. It's free. Just click here. |
|
President Obama has said his proposed stimulus legislation, which is in addition to what has already been thrown at banks and other sinking entities, "will create or save 3 million jobs." Each job would cost $275,000. "The average household income in the U.S. is $50,000 a year." Wouldn't it be better just to send people a check? The House bill has enough spending in it to give every American man, woman and child $2,700. They could probably spend or invest it better than government.
Democrats claim most of the money is for "infrastructure," but only 3 percent is for repairing bridges and highways. A recent Congressional Budget Office study found that "only 25 percent of infrastructure dollars can be spent in the first year, making the one-year total less than $7 billion for infrastructure." Not exactly a pump-priming amount.
Much of the money is going to programs that have large unspent balances. One example is Community Development Block Grants; "...the bill provides $1 billion for CDBG, which already have $16 billion on hand. And, this year, Congress has plans to rescind $9 billion in highway funding that the states have not yet used."
When President Clinton proposed stimulus legislation in 1993, it was for "only" $16 billion. Unemployment then was about the same as it is today (around 7 percent). Why does it take trillions to stimulate the economy today and only $16 billion to stimulate it in 1993?
There are plenty of add-ons in the House bill that have nothing to do with creating jobs, including $650 million for digital TV coupons. It might be cheaper to buy new TVs for the relative few who have old ones. There is $6 billion for colleges and universities, many of which have billion-dollar endowments. States will get $166 billion, though many have failed to budget wisely. There is $200 million to repair the National Mall and $400 million for "National Treasures."
Growing numbers of economists are expressing alarm about this trillion-dollar spending plan. Lee Ohanian, professor of economics at UCLA, says, "...it is not in any sense clear that the benefits justify the significant price tag of the package ... the historical record of government stimulus programs is poor. I can't think of a single fiscal stimulus program that demonstrably moderated a recession. But there is ample evidence based on peer-reviewed research that these programs have substantially damaged the U.S. economy, such as the New Deal programs in the 1930s."
Brian Strow, associate professor of economics at Western Kentucky University, says, "Government spending isn't a magic pill. It must be paid for. Spending today will most likely be paid by taxes tomorrow. ... Government debt is redistributive in nature. ... Since when have governments been better than markets in determining the best places to spend money?"
They aren't, of course, but the party of government and dependency on government wants to grow that dependency in order to solidify its power. The problem is even greater when one considers those countries to which we are indebted. We are mortgaging the future and perhaps the vitality of America, and too few people seem to care.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
| BUY THE BOOK |
| Click HERE to purchase it at a discount. (Sales help fund JWR.). |
|
Cal Thomas Archives JWR contributor Cal Thomas is co-author with Bob Beckel, a liberal Democratic Party strategist, of "Common Ground: How to Stop the Partisan War That is Destroying America". Comment by clicking here.
© 2006, Tribune Media Services, Inc.
|
|

Arnold Ahlert
Mitch Albom
Jay Ambrose
Michael Barone
Barrywood
Lori Borgman
Stratfor Briefing
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Richard Z. Chesnoff
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Suzanne Fields
Christine Flowers
Frank J. Gaffney
Bernie Goldberg
Jonah Goldberg
Julia Gorin
Jonathan Gurwitz
Paul Greenberg
Argus Hamilton
Victor Davis Hanson
Betsy Hart
Ron Hart
Nat Hentoff
A. Barton Hinkle
Jeff Jacoby
Paul Johnson
Jack Kelly
Ch. Krauthammer
David Limbaugh
Kathryn Lopez
Rich Lowry
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Ann McFeatters
Dale McFeatters
Dana Milbank
Jeanne Moos
Dick Morris
Jim Mullen
Deroy Murdock
Judge A. Napolitano
Bill O'Reilly
Clarence Page
Kathleen Parker
Star Parker
Dennis Prager
Wesley Pruden
Tom Purcell
Sharon Randall
Robert Robb
Cokie & Steve Roberts
Heather Robinson
Debra J. Saunders
Martin Schram
Greg Schwem
Culture Shlock
David Shribman
Roger Simon
Lenore Skenazy
Michael Smerconish
Thomas Sowell
Ben Stein
Mark Steyn
John Stossel
Cal Thomas
Dan Thomasson
Bob Tyrrell
Diana West
Dave Weinbaum
George Will
Walter Williams
Byron York
ZeitGeist
Mort Zuckerman

Robert Arial
Chuck Asay
Baloo
Lisa Benson
Chip Bok
Dry Bones
John Branch
John Cole
J. D. Crowe
Matt Davies
John Deering
Brian Duffy
Everything's Relative
Mallard Fillmore
Glenn Foden
Jake Fuller
Bob Gorrel
Walt Handelsman
Joe Heller
David Hitch
Jerry Holbert
David Horsey
Lee Judge
Steve Kelley
Jeff Koterba
Dick Locher
Chan Lowe
Jimmy Margulies
Jack Ohman
Michael Ramirez
Rob Rogers
Drew Sheneman
Kevin Siers
Jeff Stahler
Scott Stantis
Danna Summers
Gary Varvel
Kirk Walters
Dan Wasserman

Tech Q&A
Mr. Know-It-All
Ask Doctor K
Richard Lederer
Frugal Living
On Nutrition
Bookmark These
Bruce Williams
|