Legacy of debt

We have been railing on the legacy of debt we are leaving our children with tax-and-spend government officials.

The federal deficit was $161 billion in 2007 and looms at more than $1,600 billion next year. Hugh Hewitt’s column today is a good read:
http://townhall.com/columnists/HughHewitt/2010/02/12/no,_senator_grassley_just_say_no

Texas Workforce Commissioner Tom Pauken wrote:

In late January, the U.S. Senate voted to raise the United States’ debt ceiling to $14.3 trillion, or $45,000 for every man, woman, and child living in America. Our massive federal deficit levels should send up warning flares to all who are interested in the short- and long-term health of our nation’s economy.

Economists have taken notice of what is happening on the government debt front. Recently, Barron’s Magazine published the first part of its annual Roundtable talks of 2010 on the nation’s economy. Many of the participants warned of the long term consequences to the American economy of the explosion of government debt over the last decade. The total debt (the sum of government and privately held debt) of the United States doubled from 2000 to the present from $26 trillion to $53 trillion. This drove the debt (both public and private) to 370 percent of GDP or Gross Domestic Product, the highest since the Great Depression. Excessive government borrowing reduces resources available for private investment, prolongs the economic recession and sets the stage for a “jobless recovery” -- that is, if the economy recovers at all.

Read Pauken’s’ piece here on the DallasBlog: http://www.dallasblog.com/201002111006125/tom-pauken/growing-government-debt-hurts-small-businesses.html

Vote Against Bond Proposals

It seems like every year, we the taxpayers, are asked to spend more tax money on these long-term loans. I saw a sign this morning that said "Vote yes on the School Bond. For the Children." I urge every voter to vote down these bond proposals.

If these school board administrators were really passing these proposals for the children, they we would not be having extraordinarily high drop-out rates. We would not be talking about shutting down at least three schools in Austin. If these bonds were going to strengthen public schools, why do teachers need to constantly go over the heads of their local school board and appeal to the State Legislature for raises each year? Last time I looked, the State Legislature is not responsible for hiring and firing teachers in local school districts...that is up to the local school districts themselves.

These bond proposals are not for the children. In fact, the debt we as a society are racking up is hurting our next generation. Local government debt has risen 5 times greater than the rate of inflation in the last thirty years in Texas. The City of Austin alone has a greater debt to taxpayers than the entire State of Texas! And they continue to ask for more loans! The real loan crisis in this country is not with home mortgages, it is with cities and local school boards continuing to receive taxpayer funded loans that can never be paid back by the current generation!

One of the premises of the State Legislature is to not tie the hands of future Sessions of the Legislature with debts, programs, and taxes that the future Legislature cannot control. In essence, local school districts, cities, and county governments break this premise every year in local elections by saddling future school boards, future County Commissioners, and future City Councils with additional debt and programs that cannot be paid by the current revenue stream.

Our public debt at every level is too high. It is up to you, the taxpayers, to vote down every new bond proposal that comes up on the ballot and to ask the tough question of your elected official, "What are you doing to lower my taxes today?" If the elected official cannot answer that question, it is time for a replacement.

Vote no on your local bond proposals on May 10.