Broke Part 2: Glenn's charts, my words

I intended to get this one posted yesterday, but damn it, I had to clean the bathroom and refrigerator. How come I can't I get the government to do this?

What is a better government than one formed under the verity: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness? I say there is not one, for when men proved to be free of the whims of others, whether they were kings, dictators, oligarchies, potentates or democracies, men secured in life and liberty thrived in the pursuits of freedom. (5000 Year Leap)

Are we free? Some of you have yet to make the connection between bigger government and smaller individual. We are no longer free when the government dishes out “entitlements". What the government gives, and we depend on can be taken away. Entitlements are not free. They come out of our very souls, robbing us of our self-determination.

Let’s look at some numbers. Some scary numbers.

In this chart compliments from that right wing radical organization called the Heritage Society, but based on data from The White House and Treasury Department (who are you going to believe?) the following organizations are examples of big government spending. All for your benefit.

• Department of Education: Our kids now place 30 to 40 nations behind China in math, science and reading. I saw this on the news last night. On ABC! It's not "no child left behind", it is "everyone left behind."
  
• The Department of Housing and Urban Development: Have you been to Detroit lately?
• Department of Homeland Security: Been to the airport lately?
• The Department of Agriculture: Can you say Monsanto?
• Department of Labor: Can you say SEIU?
• Environmental Protection Agency: Here’s a good one. Carbon Dioxide is a pollutant.

Supporting all these programs cost you your freedom, because you have less and less of your own hard earned money to spend. In essence, you've traded your sweat, your time, your efforts for a bigger government. (Oh, by the way House Democrats just turned down keeping your takes from going up January first. Lame Ducks, aren't they great?)

But the kicker is that the government spends more and more of your money on servicing the national debt. It is one thing to say you traded your dollars for a poorly run education system. It is quite another to say you gave up your pay check for interest.

Notice that the middle bar is in red. That’s because that is a monthly number, not annual like the others. In other words, multiple that by 12. Yes, servicing the debt is $31.9 billion dollars a month or $382,800,000,000 a year.

But wait. The big entitlement programs everyone is talking about is Social Security and Medicare. And coming soon to a government-run clinic not so near to you, ObamaCare. But let’s just look at the old pieces of this sweet entitlement deal.

Medicare and Medicare along with Social Security costs about the same amount of money as most nation’s economies. Okay, let me not exaggerate. Let’s just say we spend more on these programs than Russia’s entire economy. And that is just this year. By 2020 we will dish out over $2.5 trillion for these goodies.

You see when our rights come from God, they can never be denied when government’s job is to protect those rights. But when government declares you have a right to an education, and housing and food and the damn internet….

So I ask, “do you think we might be in some serious shit?” Don't be afraid to say yes. Be afraid to deny it. By the way, did you see the riots in England today? Why? They raised tuition three fold. What government gives...

What you can do about it, next. I know the suspense is killing you.

Broke Part 1

I went to the Glenn Beck Broke presentation last week. Now for my liberal friends, before you choke on your health care, I want you to know that I make no apologies for doing so. (gasp)Your perceptions of Mr. Beck and his rhetoric are as firmly glued to your psyche as the long standing despise a Red Sox fan has for the Yankees. Nothing said or done will change your mind. Unfortunately, the crisis our country faces is hardly as trivial as a fan rivalry.

You can go back to sleep now, but for those who would like to know what was presented beyond his usual hate-mongering (not), fear-baiting (not), Christian smashing(not) drivel (not), you might want to read on.

My sister wanted to attend, but she had been feeling crummy, so she asked me to send her my notes. Well, really, now. You know my hand writing is as legible as a faded Egyptian Hieroglyph. During the satellite presentation, I sat in a darkened theater just below the projector’s booth. It added nothing to the legibility of my script. Therefore, I'll summarize here.

The first half of the presentation was Shock and Awe. A stab was taken at Michelle Obama’s quest to curb our trans-fats appetites when Glenn wheeled in 400 Primanti’s sandwiches, Pittsburgh’s distinctive staple by the inclusion of coleslaw and fries inside the sandwich. The sandwiches illustrated the insanity of a diet when a worm size piece of lettuce is removed from the mound of calories. Similarly, this is government’s response to rein in spending and the deficit. It ain’t going to happen using this tactic when the problem is so huge.

Now you may feel that Chicken Little is merely yelling that the sky is falling to scare you. There is no need to fear the troubling deficit. Perhaps you have heard of the European Union’s crisis and have surmised that the bail outs and riots in the streets in Greece just won’t happen in America. After all, this is the good old US of A, not Europe, despite liberal attempts to make us like Europe.

Consider the following. The EU’s debt is $16 trillion. Greece, the 27th largest economy in the world, had only 2.5% of that debt. When Greece was about to default the EU feared that it would cause the rest to falter. The EU bailed them out. The EU which is the largest economic collective couldn’t let other countries fall like dominoes. Disaster! Imagine, little old Greece crashing the EU’s economy. Combine Greece with Portugal and Spain, which are burdened with debt and rumored to be the next bail out recipient and you got $1.96 trillion of the EU’s debt.

Bored yet?

What has this got to do with you? After all, burning cars in the streets of Greece don’t mean jack in Detroit.

Let’s look at the US which is just under $14 trillion in debt, smaller than the EU. Yet in our collective economy of 50 states California, New York, Illinois and New Jersey make up $4.007 trillion. That’s twice the debt of those at risk of failing next in Europe. The monster we have is California with 13% of the debt. It’s economy is the 9th largest in the WORLD. If the EU was so worried about little old Greece bringing down the house, should we not be petrified that California will destroy us? And how are you going to feel when your taxes go to more social welfare programs in California, where many on such programs belong in Mexico.

But it can’t happen here. Back in May I wrote a blog disputing Paul Krugman’s claim that we are not Greece. I wrote: I’m not a liberal intellectual like Paul Krugman. I can’t get away with speculating about the economy with unproven theories and flat out denial about the economic situation. I’m just a smuck like everyone else who experiences reality.

I realized I had to deal with reality. Back then, I decided to build an ark. Oddly, I heard Glenn Beck say the same thing the other day. Now who is following who?

Next Up: More scary numbers and what you can do.