Posted by
peripheral on Wednesday, April 28, 2010 5:47:40 AM
From My Perspective - - -
The Hog has been butchered; the hams have been smoked; the sausage has
been ground; the process of making Head Cheese is well underway; and
the fat has been rendered - but - the hew and cry is: Bring home more
Sausage and Bacon! The demand for more ignores the reality that there
is nothing left of the Hog. It might be said that even the hog’s squeal
went into the Sausage.
The Government’s Fiscal Commission held its first meeting and the Daily
Caller dated April 28th reports: “The pig has died…In such memorable
fashion…former Sen. Alan Simpson Tuesday kicked off the U.S.
government’s effort to keep itself from drowning in debt. Simpson’s
point was that America is running out of money. Simpson, one of two
co-chairs of President Obama’s Fiscal Commission, told the 17 other
members that during his career in the Senate, his constituents often
told him to ‘bring home the bacon.’ Tuesday’s meeting began an attempt
– which some think is doomed from the start and others see merely as an
exercise to justify higher taxes – to take on America’s deficit, debt
and runaway entitlement spending. This might be the last best hope to
right this listing ship of state of ours, said Simpson, in what was
both a warning and a plea. The meeting was full of grave forecasts of
disaster if nothing is done to rein in the national debt approaching
$13 trillion, deficits that will add to the debt by around $10 trillion
over the next decade, and unfunded entitlement spending commitments
that Sen. Judd Gregg, New Hampshire Republican, said add up to $66
trillion. The longer we delay, the greater the risk of catastrophic
economic consequences, said Robert Reischauer, president of the Urban
Institute, who gave testimony and answered questions from the
commission….Commission co-chair Erskine Bowles, a former White House
chief of staff to President Bill Clinton, said the nation’s debt is a
cancer … that is going to destroy our country from within. It’s as
plain as day - what is really hard is the solution. Rep. Paul Ryan,
Wisconsin Republican and ranking member on the House Budget Committee,
led the charge to try and focus the commission on cutting spending and
not raising taxes. If you look at the math of all of this, spending is
the culprit. Mathematically speaking, you literally cannot tax your way
out of this problem. Bernanke said that the American people will have
to choose among making modifications to entitlement programs such as
Medicare and Social Security, restraining federal spending on
everything else, accepting higher taxes, or some combination thereof.
The adage cannot be repeated too often: “If your outgo exceeds your
income, your upkeep will be your downfall.” The Congress of the United
States needs to learn some simple definitions and mathematic formulas.
First, define the word Budget. It is: “(a) an estimate of expected
income and expense for a given period in the future; (b) a plan of
operations based on such an estimate; (c) an itemized allotment of
funds for a given period; and (d) the total sum of money set aside or
needed for a purpose.” This is basic for a family and household and
should be for the government. Secondly, basic mathematics should be
utilized. When there was a Gold and Silver Standard in this country, we
had a foundation on which the currency and coinage were based. When
that was removed as the Standard, then the foundation became the good
faith in the American Government (that’s when our “word” meant
something and wasn’t parsed into something vague and meaningless). It
was said and meant: Our Word Is Our Bond. Not everyone believes that
anymore.
There are Ten Basic Biblical Financial Principles. Some of them are: The first is that God is the source of everything. Philippians 4:19 - "My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." Proverbs 8:20-21
- "I lead in the way of righteousness…that I may cause those that love
me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures." “The third
is living on a margin. Living on a margin simply means allowing room
for things to happen.” The fifth: keep out of unnecessary debt. The
minute a person goes into debt, he loses a portion of his freedom. As Proverbs 22:7 says,
"The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the
lender." The sixth: learning to be content with what one has. Hebrews 13:5 puts
it succinctly: “…be content with such things as ye have: for he hath
said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you." Make this your choice!
Consider these things with me!