Posted on 05/30/2011 6:49:51 AM PDT by Clive
I’m confused. Why is it that getting your personal spending under control is called being thrifty while controlling government spending is being cold hearted?
I know the superficial, misleading answer to that question because I’ve heard it yelled at me a thousand times. It’s allegedly heartless to reduce government spending because vulnerable people will be hurt.
But is that really true?
For starters, not all government spending goes toward helping vulnerable people. Some of it goes to bureaucrats, buildings, corporations, bridges, punk rock bands, TV stations, members of Parliament, the long-gun registry and parades and festivals.
I’m no doctor, but I can guarantee you if we quit funding punk rock bands no one would die.
In other cases, it’s actually government spending that makes people vulnerable. In great swaths of the country overly generous unemployment benefits has meant recipients never had to move to find work. Employment Insurance ensured they would never need to upgrade their skills because EI would always be there for them in a creepy, dependency-creating way.
Meanwhile, in many parts of the country, businesses can’t find skilled workers, a problem that’s only going to get a lot worse as baby boomers retire. In far too many cases, EI is making things worse. At a certain point it becomes the gift that keeps on taking.
On a provincial level, the equalization program manages to achieve the same destructive results. In its 2010 submission to the House of Commons finance committee, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation pointed out almost all of the provinces who received equalization in the 1980s are still receiving it today.
It seems that when it comes to equalization nothing succeeds like failure.
It would be bad enough if these were dinky little programs, but in 2010 Employment Insurance and the equalization program combined cost taxpayers and EI contributors more than $34 billion.
Honestly, I don’t expect perfection, but today both EI and equalization are in dire need of reform.
EI should quit rewarding workers for not seeking work.
Equalization should quit rewarding provinces for failing to tackle the problems that block economic growth.
Both programs could be substantially smaller than they are today, but we should only shrink them if we really want to help vulnerable people.
The flip side of reducing spending is you can use the savings to reduce the debt, properly equip our soldiers and lower taxes.
If you’ve gassed up recently or bought groceries you know the cost of living is rocketing upwards. Shrinking government and lowering taxes would give taxpayers a fighting chance to stay afloat.
The less government spends on things that don’t help, the more Canadians get to keep of their paycheques, which does help. In other words, helping is the point and often the best way to help is to get government out of the way.
I know these kinds of changes are a tough sell. That said, in private moments most federal and provincial politicians would acknowledge that those changes should come.
But in public they quickly revert to type and pretend it’s all working fine.
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Yes, it would really be a shame on the country and the world if we stopped feeding and housing that fat slug adult baby. And all of the other fat slugs and druggies,,,, Just damn!
BRAVO!
If the US government were to default on debt, a lot of people could die. Two words: Unintended Consequences.
Conservatives NEED to learn economic TALKING POINTS!!!
Don’t fall for the “Tax the Rich” discussions.
Ask the liberal:
“Do you want more federal revenue or do you simply want to punish the so called “rich”?
“Federal revenue is only ever maximized at these reduced tax rates.”
“The spending side of the equation is always ignored as the factor creating the deficits.”
Silence, peasant! Egypt needs another billion dollars.
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If only America knew.
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Kept under wraps by the state run media:
BILLIONS FOR JIHAD!
Obama gives billions http://creepingsharia.wordpress.com/2009/05/13/obamas-supplemental-bill-passes-gives-billions-to-enemies/
of U.S. taxpayer dollars to countries and entities that support Sharia law and/or harbor, hide and support those who want to destroy the U.S. and our allies.
• $3.6 billion, matching the request, to expand and improve capabilities of the Afghan security forces
• $400 million, as requested, to build the counterinsurgency capabilities of the Pakistani security forces
• Afghanistan: $1.52 billion, $86 million above the request
• West Bank and Gaza: $665 million in bilateral economic, humanitarian, and security assistance for the West Bank and Gaza
• Jordan: $250 million, $250 million above the request, including $100 million for economic and $150 million for security assistance
• Egypt: $360 million, $310 million above the request, including $50 million for economic assistance, $50 million for border security, and $260 million for security assistance
• Pakistan: $1.9 billion, $591 million above the request
• Iraq: $968 million, $336 million above the request
• Oversight: $20 million, $13 million above the request, to expand oversight capacity of the State Department, USAID, and the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan to review programs in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq
• Lebanon: $74 million
Africa: $151 million, $18 million above the request, for economic and security assistance for Kenya, Somalia, Southern Sudan, and Zimbabwe
• International Food Assistance: $500 million, $200 million above the request, for PL 480 international food assistance to alleviate suffering during the global economic crisis
• Refugee Assistance: $343 million, $50 million above the request, …including humanitarian assistance for Gaza. Funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency programs in the West Bank and Gaza is limited to $119 million (Note: Gaza = Hamas)
• Disaster Assistance: $200 million to avert famines and provide life-saving assistance during natural disasters and for internally displaced people around the world, including Somalia, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, the Middle East and South Asia
• Peacekeeping: $837 million for United Nations peacekeeping operations, including an expanded mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and a new mission in Chad and the Central African Republic
• Department of Justice: $17 million, matching the request, for counter-terrorism activities and to provide training and assistance for the Iraqi criminal justice system
. Obama funds $20M in tax payer dollars to immigrate Hamas Refugees to the USA.
(This is the news that didn’t make the headlines)
http://www.thefederalregister.com/d.p/2009-02-04-E9-2488
The mainstream media remains silent on this but the International News has now picked up the story http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=22164
— and then there is Obama’s $108 billion IMF bailout scheme http://michellemalkin.com/2009/05/13/obamas-100-billion-imf-bailout-scheme/
in addition to the Supplemental.
Millions of Americans are losing their jobs and their homes, thousands are going hungry. In the midst of all this, Barack Obama can’t give your money away to foreigner terror imams fast enough.
According to the Associated Press, the Obama administration will give away nearly $6 million of American tax dollars to restore 63 historic and cultural sites, including Islamic mosques and minarets, in 55 nations. See the State Department document here.
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