paulmcohen wrote:If businesses benefit then they should pay for it, that is what trade associations were invented for. The fact that people have forgotten governments function is why we are $16,000,000,000,000 in debt and counting. The job of the federal government is very clearly spelled out in the Constitution and I don't see foster commerce and growth listed.
My comment was not a I hate government comment just that nothing from the government is free.
If $16 trillion is too big a number to understand you personally owe $50,000 and so does every citizen in the US, and this does not even cover the $220 trillion owed in unfunded Medicare are Social Security payments.
I don't believe "the people" have forgotten. The federal Government seems to have an agenda that would, if not stopped, make the people wholly dependent on the Government.
What needs to be done, IMHO, is turn the decision making processes back to the individual states. Cut the size of the Federal Payroll. With that goes Federal Medical Expenses, Federal Pensions, Federal Operating costs, government sanctioned boon goggles, GSA seminars, et al.
In other words, create a federal BALANCED BUDGET and stick to it.
Yes, the entitlement programs (Medicare, Social Security and Federal Salaries and Pensions) will have to take a hit.
For a clue, I would propose that all governmental agencies that were either initiated or increased significantly in size over the last four years be evaluated for the purpose of elimination. Yup, unemployment will rise but if these people are worth what the Government pays them, they will find work elsewhere.
Cut up the Government credit cards and pay cash; borrow nothing from China.
The President and his entire security team does not need to personally visit the site of every national disaster, flood, or wind storm. Stay in Washington. Concentrate on real work. Manage the Government.