The Times-Reporter editorial for July 22, 2010 is another no-brainer, except in this case the definition is no brains. If Mr. Jekel writes his own editorials, or if he doesn’t, what gets published is his responsibility. He needs to go back and review Economics 101 and fourth grade arithmetic. The editorial, “Benefits extension delayed too long,” is an example of what is destroying the United States as we know it. It reads well, no question about that, but it does not face the realities of the economic disaster the country is now locked into.
The cost of extending the benefits for unemployed workers, almost thirty-four billion dollars this year, is referred to as “hardly a budget buster.” True, especially when the budget was blown to smithereens months ago. Jeff Foxworthy’s fifth-graders would be able to figure out that if you have a huge debt, 13.2 trillion dollars currently, you don’t throw another 34 billion into the debt pit.
Real life works like this. You’re making $50,000 a year. Your expenses are $49,000. You want a new car. You borrow twenty grand, pay nothing down, and end up with payments of $350 a month for the next five years. You are still making $50,000 but your expenses have risen to $53,200. You’re in debt by $3,200 for the year. If you can’t come up with the extra $3,200 you can’t pay the bills. The car will be repossessed, which takes care of the car payment, but there is now another problem. You lost the $3,200, reducing next year’s operating funds to $46,800 which is $1,200 less than your expenses. No sweat. You can put your expenses on the credit card. The credit card interest charges increase the cost of your purchases further decreasing your operating funds. Eventually you end up bankrupt.
That gets you off the hook, but sticks it to the folks who loaned you the money in the first place. That you became financially unable to pay the loan off is your responsibility, not theirs, and it is morally wrong to force them to pay for your bad decisions. You’re broke, the car dealer, having lost money because of your inability to pay, has less money to spend on inventory so he orders less, the manufacturer has the same problem so he orders less materials, and so it goes because you spent more money than you could afford.
Government spending has the same problem, although the Obama doesn’t seem to know, understand, or care. The federal debt is oppressive. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which is the total amount of good, products, and services the country produces, currently stands at 14.5 trillion dollars, which is only a trillion dollars more than the national debt. The tax income from all sources to date this year, is 2.2 trillion dollars, only 17% of the national debt. If all spending were to stop right now, it would take six-and-a-half years to pay off the debt, and we all know that’s not going to happen.
Unemployment has increased steadily in the past two years. The editorial states that for every job available there are five unemployed workers. It goes on to state that “the claim that these benefits discourage the jobless from looking for work, that’s pure bunk.” Could be. But then how many unemployed workers would there be, how many jobs being done by illegal aliens would be filled by Americans if welfare and the public dole were stopped and a policy of no work no food were implemented? Public welfare serves no one but the political hacks who want to exploit those who live in poverty. Unemployment welfare is a means of governmental control, not help.
To pay the debt down takes a couple of things. The US federal income has to increase. Federal spending has to decrease. The government’s answer is to increase taxes. Like it or not, it has already happened. The tax burden is going to be oppressive. The statements by Obama that the working folks won’t be hit with higher taxes is untrue (used untrue because a lie is not politically correct). You tax who has the money, and working folks, the so-called middle class, have the money. Tax increases on working people will reach 30 to 35% according to economists, with even higher increases for businesses and the nasty rich people who provide the jobs to the rest of us. Oppressive tax legislation has already been passed by the congress and signed by Obama.
Adding another $34 billion dollars to the disastrous debt Obama created since taking office may not seem like much to Mr. Jekel, but like buying a car when you can’t afford it, it only adds to our financial trouble. What we need is more private investment to increase business opportunity, jobs, the GDP, which will put the country back on a sound financial footing.
Increasing taxes on the people and businesses which provide jobs by will only decrease investment in US industry. Jobs will be lost rather than gained. Politicians didn’t learn this in the 1930’s and they still haven’t figured it out.
Mr. Jeckel is entitled to his opinion. He also has a responsibility to do the research to back it up. Unless, of course, his editorial is politically biased. Huh. Could that be it?
The cost of extending the benefits for unemployed workers, almost thirty-four billion dollars this year, is referred to as “hardly a budget buster.” True, especially when the budget was blown to smithereens months ago. Jeff Foxworthy’s fifth-graders would be able to figure out that if you have a huge debt, 13.2 trillion dollars currently, you don’t throw another 34 billion into the debt pit.
Real life works like this. You’re making $50,000 a year. Your expenses are $49,000. You want a new car. You borrow twenty grand, pay nothing down, and end up with payments of $350 a month for the next five years. You are still making $50,000 but your expenses have risen to $53,200. You’re in debt by $3,200 for the year. If you can’t come up with the extra $3,200 you can’t pay the bills. The car will be repossessed, which takes care of the car payment, but there is now another problem. You lost the $3,200, reducing next year’s operating funds to $46,800 which is $1,200 less than your expenses. No sweat. You can put your expenses on the credit card. The credit card interest charges increase the cost of your purchases further decreasing your operating funds. Eventually you end up bankrupt.
That gets you off the hook, but sticks it to the folks who loaned you the money in the first place. That you became financially unable to pay the loan off is your responsibility, not theirs, and it is morally wrong to force them to pay for your bad decisions. You’re broke, the car dealer, having lost money because of your inability to pay, has less money to spend on inventory so he orders less, the manufacturer has the same problem so he orders less materials, and so it goes because you spent more money than you could afford.
Government spending has the same problem, although the Obama doesn’t seem to know, understand, or care. The federal debt is oppressive. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which is the total amount of good, products, and services the country produces, currently stands at 14.5 trillion dollars, which is only a trillion dollars more than the national debt. The tax income from all sources to date this year, is 2.2 trillion dollars, only 17% of the national debt. If all spending were to stop right now, it would take six-and-a-half years to pay off the debt, and we all know that’s not going to happen.
Unemployment has increased steadily in the past two years. The editorial states that for every job available there are five unemployed workers. It goes on to state that “the claim that these benefits discourage the jobless from looking for work, that’s pure bunk.” Could be. But then how many unemployed workers would there be, how many jobs being done by illegal aliens would be filled by Americans if welfare and the public dole were stopped and a policy of no work no food were implemented? Public welfare serves no one but the political hacks who want to exploit those who live in poverty. Unemployment welfare is a means of governmental control, not help.
To pay the debt down takes a couple of things. The US federal income has to increase. Federal spending has to decrease. The government’s answer is to increase taxes. Like it or not, it has already happened. The tax burden is going to be oppressive. The statements by Obama that the working folks won’t be hit with higher taxes is untrue (used untrue because a lie is not politically correct). You tax who has the money, and working folks, the so-called middle class, have the money. Tax increases on working people will reach 30 to 35% according to economists, with even higher increases for businesses and the nasty rich people who provide the jobs to the rest of us. Oppressive tax legislation has already been passed by the congress and signed by Obama.
Adding another $34 billion dollars to the disastrous debt Obama created since taking office may not seem like much to Mr. Jekel, but like buying a car when you can’t afford it, it only adds to our financial trouble. What we need is more private investment to increase business opportunity, jobs, the GDP, which will put the country back on a sound financial footing.
Increasing taxes on the people and businesses which provide jobs by will only decrease investment in US industry. Jobs will be lost rather than gained. Politicians didn’t learn this in the 1930’s and they still haven’t figured it out.
Mr. Jeckel is entitled to his opinion. He also has a responsibility to do the research to back it up. Unless, of course, his editorial is politically biased. Huh. Could that be it?
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