THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XIII, Issue # 278, November 27, 2011
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
THE THREAT OF A GLOBAL FINANCIAL COLLAPSE
By Alan Caruba
THE U.S. NATIONAL DEBT: NOW LARGER THAN THE NATION'S ANNUAL GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT -- LARGE PORTION OF LAST YEAR'S U.S. DEBT
BORROWED FROM FOREIGN COUNTRIES -- THE LOOMING GLOBAL FINANCIAL COLLAPSE -- GREATER & GREATER CONCENTRATION OF POWER INTO THE
HANDS OF U.S. CENTRAL GOVERNMENT -- WHAT HAPPENS WHEN AMERICANS LOSE SIGHT OF THE VISION OF THE FOUNDING FATHERS & THE U.S. CONSTITUTION
FULL STORY:
At present, the amount of the annual U.S. Gross Domestic Product, $14 trillion — the value of all the goods and services that generate income — is exceeded by
the nation’s debt.
America is presently $15 trillion in debt and it grows daily.
In a November 21 Wall Street Journal interview, Erskine Bowles, of the presidential advisory commission on the nation’s debt, said “If you take 100% of
the revenue that came into the country last year, every single dime of it was consumed by our mandatory spending and interest on the debt.”
“Mandatory spending in English is basically the entitlement programs -- Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. That means that every single dollar we spent
last year on national defense, homeland security, education, infrastructure, high-value added research — every single dollar was borrowed, and half of it was
borrowed from foreign countries.”
“That’s a formula for failure in anybody’s book.”
In truth, we are looking at a coming global financial collapse, with experts from Credit Suisse to the Deutche Bank, the CEO of General Motors to Warren Buffett,
all in agreement that the question is not if, but when.
It will come at a time when there is little, if any, real leadership to be found either in the U.S.A. or Europe, the most spendthrift of nations facing this crisis.
Thomas Jefferson, one of the most brilliant of our Founding Fathers, said: “I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from
wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.” He also said that “It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it
goes.”
Another Founding Father, James Madison, warned Americans against the concentration of power, saying, “I believe there are more instances of the abridgement
of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpation.”
Over the years, more and more power has been concentrated in the U.S. central government, and eliminating the danger of total centralization of power requires
the dismantlement and elimination of several of the components of the national government. Americans need to say "Good Bye" to the Departments of Education
and Energy, along with the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The activities of these Departments are all functions previously addressed by the
states.
You will not find any of these activities specified in the U.S. Constitution as powers delegated to the national government. Consider when these Departments
came into being:
Education was established in 1953, originally as the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. In 1979, it was subdivided into the Department of Education
and the Department of Health and Human Services.
The Department of Housing and Urban Affairs was created in 1965.
The Department of Energy was created in 1977.
Thus, between 1953 and 1979, a period of 26 years, the central government took control of key factors of the nation’s affairs, most, if not all, of which are dealt
with far better at the state and local level.
To these must be added Freddie Mac and Fanny Mae, two government “entities” responsible for the housing mortgage crisis and currently asking Congress
for billions more to cover their losses.
The Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution specifically says that “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it
to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.”
Congress is filled with men and women for whom their position has become a sinecure as they are elected and reelected, some for decades. But Congress has
proved itself unwilling to govern the financial affairs of the nation. A recent vote in the U.S. House of Representatives rejecting a proposed balanced budget
amendment reflects this.
In 2012, the voters will have the opportunity to reverse this failure, electing men and women who will vote for term limits, a balanced budget amendment, and
other necessary changes.
We have witnessed what happens when Americans lose sight of the vision of our Founding Fathers and the Constitution they bequeathed to posterity.
We are that posterity.
The present generation of Americans are obligated to save the nation. If they fail to live up to their obligation, they will see the American nation fail.
© Alan Caruba, 2011
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Fiscal Policy: Taxation & Government Spending
Alan Caruba's commentaries are posted daily at Warning Signs, his popular blog -- and thereafter on dozens of other
websites and blogs. His monthly report on new books is posted at Bookviews.
A business and science writer, Caruba is the Founder of The National Anxiety Center, a clearinghouse for information
about "scare campaigns" designed to influence public opinion and policy.
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity