My son Michael as a guest blogger

Some of the ways your government is spending your money

by Michael Strickland on Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 9:32am

You may have watched President Obama's speech last night, in which he implored all of us to tell our members of Congress to make a deal on the debt ceiling issue. Specifically, he said that if we default because the debt ceiling is not raised, "we would not have enough money to pay all of our bills -- bills that include monthly Social Security checks, veterans' benefits, and the government contracts we've signed with thousands of businesses."

The president is trying to make you think that retirees won't get their Social Security checks, veterans won't receive their benefits, small businesses won't get paid. That is a scare tactic, plain and simple; our president is playing politics just as much as everyone else in Washington.

If we default, yes -- we will not have enough money to pay ALL of our bills. But we will have plenty of money to pay MOST of our bills. Do you really believe our government will let retirees and veterans go unpaid, while other, much less critical bills get paid? Highly unlikely -- and if so, it will be a political move at the expense of those in need.

Take a look at the following very long list of items in our federal budget that receive billions of dollars. Not only could many of these go without getting paid in favor of paying retirees and veterans until the debt crisis is solved, most of these could (and perhaps should) be cut from our budget entirely. Yes, there are some items like NEA and PBS that many people would want to keep. But do we really need Mohair Subsidies? And is it unreasonable to require federal employees to pay their taxes like the rest of us?

In a perfect world, there would be enough money to go around for everyone's pet programs. But it's time to get serious. We are drowning in debt, and we have to cut runaway spending. When all of us are in debt, do we have the luxury of asking our employer (if we're employed) to raise our salary? No -- we have to cut our spending and live within our means. Ask your government to do the same; don't enable their spending problem by letting them raise more "revenue" (Obama's weasel word for "taxes").

[TOTAL SAVINGS if all of the following were cut: $2.5 trillion over 10 years.]

➢ Corporation for Public Broadcasting Subsidy. $445 million annual savings.
 ➢ Save America's Treasures Program. $25 million annual savings.
 ➢ International Fund for Ireland. $17 million annual savings.
 ➢ Legal Services Corporation. $420 million annual savings.
 ➢ National Endowment for the Arts. $167.5 million annual savings.
 ➢ National Endowment for the Humanities. $167.5 million annual savings.
 ➢ Hope VI Program. $250 million annual savings.
 ➢ Amtrak Subsidies. $1.565 billion annual savings.
 ➢ Eliminate duplicative education programs. H.R. 2274 (in last Congress), authored by Rep. McKeon, eliminates 68 at a savings of $1.3 billion annually.
 ➢ U.S. Trade Development Agency. $55 million annual savings.
 ➢ Woodrow Wilson Center Subsidy. $20 million annual savings.
 ➢ Cut in half funding for congressional printing and binding. $47 million annual savings.
 ➢ John C. Stennis Center Subsidy. $430,000 annual savings.
 ➢ Community Development Fund. $4.5 billion annual savings.
 ➢ Heritage Area Grants and Statutory Aid. $24 million annual savings.
 ➢ Cut Federal Travel Budget in Half. $7.5 billion annual savings.
 ➢ Trim Federal Vehicle Budget by 20%. $600 million annual savings.
 ➢ Essential Air Service. $150 million annual savings.
 ➢ Technology Innovation Program. $70 million annual savings.
 ➢ Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Program. $125 million annual savings.
 ➢ Department of Energy Grants to States for Weatherization. $530 million annual savings.
 ➢ Beach Replenishment. $95 million annual savings.
 ➢ New Starts Transit. $2 billion annual savings.
 ➢ Exchange Programs for Alaska, Natives Native Hawaiians, and Their Historical Trading Partners in Massachusetts. $9 million annual savings.
 ➢ Intercity and High Speed Rail Grants. $2.5 billion annual savings.
 ➢ Title X Family Planning. $318 million annual savings.
 ➢ Appalachian Regional Commission. $76 million annual savings.
 ➢ Economic Development Administration. $293 million annual savings.
 ➢ Programs under the National and Community Services Act. $1.15 billion annual savings.
 ➢ Applied Research at Department of Energy. $1.27 billion annual savings.
 ➢ FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership. $200 million annual savings.
 ➢ Energy Star Program. $52 million annual savings.
 ➢ Economic Assistance to Egypt. $250 million annually.
 ➢ U.S. Agency for International Development. $1.39 billion annual savings.
 ➢ General Assistance to District of Columbia. $210 million annual savings.
 ➢ Subsidy for Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. $150 million annual savings.
 ➢ Presidential Campaign Fund. $775 million savings over ten years.
 ➢ No funding for federal office space acquisition. $864 million annual savings.
 ➢ End prohibitions on competitive sourcing of government services.
 ➢ Repeal the Davis-Bacon Act. More than $1 billion annually.
 ➢ IRS Direct Deposit: Require the IRS to deposit fees for some services it offers (such as processing payment plans for taxpayers) to the Treasury, instead of allowing it to remain as part of its budget. $1.8 billion savings over ten years.
 ➢ Require collection of unpaid taxes by federal employees. $1 billion total savings.
 ➢ Prohibit taxpayer funded union activities by federal employees. $1.2 billion savings over ten years.
 ➢ Sell excess federal properties the government does not make use of. $15 billion total savings.
 ➢ Eliminate death gratuity for Members of Congress.
 ➢ Eliminate Mohair Subsidies. $1 million annual savings.
 ➢ Eliminate taxpayer subsidies to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. $12.5 million annual savings.
 ➢ Eliminate Market Access Program. $200 million annual savings.
 ➢ USDA Sugar Program. $14 million annual savings.
 ➢ Subsidy to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). $93 million annual savings.
 ➢ Eliminate the National Organic Certification Cost-Share Program. $56.2 million annual savings.
 ➢ Eliminate fund for Obamacare administrative costs. $900 million savings.
 ➢ Ready to Learn TV Program. $27 million savings.

Source:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/20/house-gop-gets-specific-on-cuts_n_811557.html

"Eat your peas"

Obama in a recent speech about the debt limit deadline: "It's not going to get easier. It's going to get harder. So we might as well do it now: pull off the Band-Aid, eat our peas. Now is the time to do it. If not now, when?"

As the debt ceiling deadline draws near these clowns in Washington are acting like eight year olds, just blaming each other with both sides not willing to negotiate while the American people stand to be the big losers. The national debt is going to bankrupt this country and some very serious cuts in spending need to be made. But as a conservative Republican I also agree that there are probably tax loopholes that can be eliminated (ethanol subsidy, etc.).  


I know about negotiating, especially when the subject is "eat your peas". When my youngest son was eight years old, one evening he refused to eat his peas at dinner. I had had a bad day at work and reverting to the way my parents raised me, I told him; "You are not leaving the table until you eat your peas". He sat there and stared forward, making no effort to eat. So I dug in my heels and we left him at the table and I told him he could not get up until he ate his peas.  A half hour passed, he just sat there - no progress, another half hour, no progress. Finally I lost my cool and told him; "Eat your peas or you will get the strap!" His response; "How many times? ".  He won the battle.


But here is my point; if an eight year old can master the art of negotiation these so-called politicians we elect to represent us need to figure out how to get their act together. And Obama  needs to start showing some leadership and solve this problem. He is the key and so far his performance as our president has been pitiful in his ability to manage this country's financial affairs.


Conspirators believe he is deliberately trying to let this country's economy fail so it can be converted to a socialist society.  I have never bought into that, but sometimes I wonder.