Is anybody serious about entitlement reform? Chris Christie and Paul Ryan, perhaps. Will they be able to do anything about it? Probably not, there's a lot of entrenched interests... I'll just hedge my bets and fly off to space as soon as I get a chance (well, as soon as there's fast internet access up there).
Even lefty Howard Kurtz realizes how bad the media has botched their tea party coverage. He brings up a lot of good points, but there's something I want to highlight that's not exactly the main point of the article, bold placed by me for emphasis.
Many voters are angry, especially about the anemic economy, and it’s their right to toss out whoever they deem to be the bums. But on some level, many journalists believe the White House has accomplished a heckuva lot, and they see the Tea Partiers as inchoate and maddeningly inconsistent—denouncing big bad government while clinging to their Medicare and Social Security benefits. It’s as if the pundits are collectively engaged in a group grope, feeling their way around this strange and sharp-toothed political animal that resembles nothing they’ve encountered before.
While I've been consistent in my criticism and disdain for the current incarnations of Medicare and Social Security, I do worry that for all their railing about big government, the people who are getting elected on this tea-party wave are not going to be serious about dealing with the actual problems that are breaking our budget. Sure, 20 million dollar pork projects brought home to your district for special interests is bad, but what's breaking our budget is the large federal entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicare, and to a lesser extent, public pensions.
Public pensions are out of control and unsustainable, and government jobs that create no wealth are incentivized. I know first hand, as I make way more than a lot of my college graduate friends who were lucky enough to find jobs (in some cases, I make double). Factor in my benefits and it's just ridiculous (dental, medical, tuition assistance, G.I. Bill for grad school, 40% of my salary is tax free, if I stay in for 20 years I get 50% of my highest salary as pension, which could be as much as I make now monthly til I die starting in my 40's. Oh yeah, and I can't get fired.). Just how ridiculous are public pensions? If my personal testimony wasn't enough, read this article by former U.S. Attorney J. Christian Adams. Let me emphasize part of his point that Government employees are not evil or the problem, it's the system that needs to go.
The larger problem is the spending. The answer is not to raise taxes, but to quit spending. I am perfectly ok with paying taxes, and I'm not necessarily even in favor of cutting taxes below the current rate. However, I am not a big fan of the tax rate. How about a balanced budget? How about our Government proves to us that they can spend our money responsibly? I like that idea. People complained about Bush's spending throughout his two terms, including many Conservatives. Bush was an awful Conservative in terms of fiscal responsibility, but he pales in comparison to Obama. Ed has the numbers laid out neatly for you to see here. Obama and the Democratic Congress has tacked on $3 trillion to our national debt since coming into office, and the Democratic Congress starting in 2006 has done far worse. The Democrats have been three times worse in their 4 years than the Republicans were in 12 ('94-'06). Remember, Congress makes the budget (well, not this year they didn't).
Going back to the bolded part of Kurtz' quote, I have an article about why the GOP will never cut Government. The optimist in me wants to disagree, but the realist thinks that there's some real truth to it. Despite the fact that entitlements take up 65% of our federal expenditure, they are still wildly popular, even among people my age. Newsflash, my contemporaries: we're not going to see a dime of Social Security. I know we've been paying for it for as long as we've been working, but we might as well reform it now because we're not going to see it either way.
Ed also offers his thoughts on Kurtz' article.
Kurtz also rightly criticizes Tea Party candidates Carl Paladino (R-NY) and Christine O'Donnell (R-DE). Why do I say he rightly criticizes them? Christine O'Donnell reportedly does not believe in a separation of Church and State in the U.S. Character does matter in politics, as far as I'm concerned, and no matter how much she agrees with me on government spending, it doesn't make me feel any less uneasy about the prospect of her writing and voting on laws that will govern this country in the future. Call me an elitist, but I calls 'em like I sees 'em.
Good thing I don't have to vote for Carl Paladino. Despite Jimmy Mac's views on Jewish people and their real estate hookups, he has some serious solutions. Here's what the founder and CEO of the Rent is Too Damn High Party believes.
- On the deficit: "It's like a cancer. It will heal itself."
- On negative campaigning: "As a karate expert, I will not talk about anyone up here."
- On gay marriage: "The Rent Is 2 Damn High Party feels if you want to marry a shoe, I'll marry you."
- On... Jesus, I have no clue what prompted this one: "We plan to bulldoze some of those mountains in Upstate to make New York an independent state. I want my own cable company; I want my own telephone company."
- On the rent: Too damn high.
Yep... the deficit is just like cancer, it'll just heal itself! Trust him, he's a karate expert ;).
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