Spending Money
Because It’s OPM
“I remember when
liberals were liberal with their own money” is a quote attributed to Will Rogers. Modern day “spend & tax”
liberals, such as President Obama are spending the US taxpayers money without
restraint because it is “Other Peoples Money”. We’ll tax other people (especially the
rich), because a) they have too much money (class warfare), b) we as liberals
(in government) know how to spend it better than you, c) if we don’t have it in
the US Treasury now, we’ll just borrow more for taxpayers to pay back later. Former US Senator Bill
Armstrong (R-Colorado) stated the appetite for US government spending by
Congress this way, “Congress is spending money like a drunken sailor, the
trouble is, a sailor is spending his own money!”
Even the moderate to
liberal Politico is noting the long term and large spending patterns by the
Obama Administration. The federal debt held by the public
would still nearly double again from $10.1 trillion at the end of 2011 to $18.8
trillion at the end of 2022. For the current fiscal year ending Sept. 30, CBO
is now projecting a shortfall of $1.3 trillion. In fiscal 2013, the deficit
will still hover near the $1 trillion mark — about $977 billion. And while it
will fall to 2.5 percent of GDP by 2017, it then begins to grow again to 3
percent of GDP by 2022.
The Heritage
Foundation has an excellent link, with the US government revenues and spending
graphically portrayed in easy to understand charts:
Under the Obama
Administration, Federal spending per household jumped from $25,000 per year
(per household) to $30,000 per year. It had moderated under a GOP House of Representatives
(where the spending bills originate) to $29,401 per household (per year).
The
30-year average tax burden (Federal tax rate) from 1981 to 2010 has been about
18%. The highest
average rate was 20% (in year 2000), just prior to President Bush being
elected. The projection for the
next decade is for average Federal income tax rates to rise from the historical
average of 18% to nearly 25%, if Federal spending and taxation are not
constrained by Congress and the elected President.
Presently,
the lower (bottom half) of US taxpayers only pay 2.7% of the total income taxes
collected by Uncle Sam. Whereas
the top 5% of income earner (US taxpayers earning over $159,000 per year) are
paying nearly 60% of the income taxes collected. The top 1% of income producers (those who create jobs,
wealth and economic activity for our country as a whole) are paying 40% of the
income taxes collected.
So
let’s tax the rich, as per the “class warfare” manta of President Obama! Not so fast. Our history in modern America
would suggest the contrary:
“The
most dramatic decline in the top individual income tax rate, from 70 percent to
28 percent, occurred during the Reagan Administration, during which tax
receipts remained relatively constant as a share of the economy.” Heritage Foundation
And what will be
the result of this overspending, over the next 10 years? The Heritage Foundation projects
that our US Federal deficit (if spending is unchecked) will reach 100% of our
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2022.
Then it is “Hello Greece, or Portugal or Italy”! http://www.heritage.org/budgetchartbook/national-debt-skyrocket
© 2012, Jasper
Welch, Four Corners Media, www.jasperwelch.org
