No More Debt Until Speinding is Cut Commentary (By Star Parker) Jan. 31, 2011

No More Debt Until Spending is Cut Commentary

The Republican take away from President

Obama's State of the Union address should be

unwavering opposition to an unconditional

increase in the U.S. debt limit.

The statutory debt ceiling of $14.3 trillion will

soon be reached. Republicans should oppose

increasing it to permit more borrowing without

meaningful spending cuts as part of the deal.

The vision that the president presented to the

nation in his speech, that we need more government, a lot more, to address the

challenges before us, shows he sees the world no differently than he did when he

entered office two years ago.

He's added a trillion dollars, almost a 40 percent increase, to federal government

spending over this time. The federal government's take from our economy has

increased from $1 out of every $5 to $1 out of every $4.

Aside from the point of principle that with every incremental increase in the scope of

government there is a corresponding decrease in the freedom of every citizen, there is

also no practical argument to justify this vast government takeover.

Unemployment has hardly budged and the economy, although recovering, remains

sluggish.

This economic machine clearly needs an oil change and a different kind of fuel. The

president clearly doesn't see things this way. Republicans need to offer a clear

alternative and let the American people choose.

If Republicans offer a bold alternative to seize control from politicians and bureaucrats

and return power and freedom to citizens, they can bet on public support.

Only 31 percent of Americans in a recent Gallup poll say they are "satisfied" with the

"size and power of the federal government." That's down 10 points from just two years

ago and down 20 points from 10 years ago.

Certainly it's true that when we get down to the details of what to cut, even many who

know that government has gotten out of hand push back when programs they are

used to are put on the block.

This is where leadership comes into the picture.

Just consider our last one-term Democrat president, Jimmy Carter. He became

president at a time of economic crisis in the 1970s, and his presidency was defined by

the vision that we needed more government to solve our problems.

Carter created two new departments: the Department of Energy in 1977 and the

Department of Education in 1979.

The Energy Department was created in response to the so-called "energy crisis." Its

annual budget has consumed more than $600 billion since it was created, and none of

this can be associated with production of one new barrel of oil, one new ton of coal or

one new cubic foot of natural gas.

Yet, a good portion of President Obama's State of the Union focused on proposed new

government-energy programs. The Energy Department will spend about $40 billion in

2010, up 70 percent from 2009.

Since 1970, federal government education spending per student has tripled with hardly

any impact on test scores.

Since inception, the Department of Education has spent almost a trillion dollars with

negligible impact on improving our children's education. It spent $100 billion in 2010, up

67 percent from 2009.

Yet, central to the president's education message is more federal dollars.

Republicans must stand firm on their proposed minimum of $100 billion in spending

cuts – a paltry 3 percent of the federal budget – before agreeing to raise the debt

ceiling. This could be easily pulled from the Energy and Education Departments alone.

We've got to decide if the center of gravity of our nation has shifted to government and

bureaucrats or if we can get it back to individuals and families.

This is the choice Republicans need to make clear.
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BS Ranch Perspective:

There has to be cuts in spending! The Federal Government along with the State's need to reduce spending for the entitlement programs that we cannot afford!! The newly elected Governor has surprised me, by the cuts that he did make in the first budget that he put together. I think that Jerry was on a good start, but the scratch of the surface that was done needs to be cut much deeper! Jerry needs to get to work, and get started to clean up the budget, and get it done to reduce the spending to less then what is taken in each year, and attempt to pay down the increasing debt that is growing and growing and growing etc... etc...

BS Ranch