Using the Concord Coalition as a Compass
Using the Concord Coalition as a Compass
I was listening to an interview of Steven Covey, the author of Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, recently. He said that one of the things he likes to do in his seminars is ask people to close their ideas and point in the direction they think True North is. Then Covey asks his audience to keep their arms up and open their eyes. The variety of directions being pointed to is always highly varied, yet there is only one True North.
One of the reasons I like to keep up with the data being presented by the Concord Coalition is that you are getting a True North reading on which direction America is going financially. Right now, the direction we’re traveling is not a good one. They just had a new paper come out. In just a bit, I will provide a link to that paper.
First, though, I want to comment on my two previous day’s blogs. Then I will link these two thoughts together.
Two days ago, I showed you the Democratic assessment of Republican Fred Thompson. If you’ll read that assessment closely, you’ll see at least three themes intended to stir Democratic voters. Those themes Democrats imply are as follows:
Thompson portrays himself as just a down home, aw shucks country boy with the interests of the common people at heart. The reality is that Thompson is a highly sophisticated man with strong ties to very powerful moneyed interests and were he to become President he would favor moneyed interests over common people.
Instead of letting Scooter Libby be held accountable, Thompson is trying to ease his punishment by raising funds to pay the fine imposed on Libby.
Thompson opposes the continuation of Roe v. Wade as the law of the land.
My assessment of these themes is that they are relatively accurate, but so what? Thompson believes one thing, Democrats believe another.
Let’s look at the themes Republicans have in portraying Hillary Clinton. Those themes for Hillary (and Democrats in general) are as follows:
Hillary will impose government controlled medical care on all Americans.
Hillary will raise taxes to pay for the expanded government she and her supporters envision
Hillary will appoint liberal judges who will intrude on your personal life.
Hillary will raise taxes to pay for the expanded government she and her supporters envision
Hillary will appoint liberal judges who will intrude on your personal life.
Of all these allegations against Thompson and Clinton, the one I find most misleading is the one about expanded taxes. Don’t get me wrong. As my finance professor used to say, “Don’t pay that tax”. By which he meant; pay all the taxes you owe, but make sure you pay only what you owe. Like everyone, I would prefer to keep as much of my own money as possible. But this is where reality intrudes.
When you read through the Concord Coalition document, you face the realization that we as a nation are close to being $9 Trillion in debt. Putting $12 Billion a month on the nation’s credit card for Iraq and Afghanistan is not helping. When you add in our other obligations, you begin to realize how grave our financial situation is.
When individual people, businesses and governments incur excessive debt, their choices are limited. The choices are basically two. You can re-allocate existing funds that come in to pay more towards paying off the debt. That means cutting way back on the things you are doing now. As an individual, you spend less on meals out, entertainment and other non-essentials. As a government, you cut services. The trouble is the people you represent demand those services.
So your other choice is to bring in more money. If you’re a government, that means raising taxes. The trouble with that is the people you represent resent higher taxes.
The reality is we have some hard choices to make. We have been having a party on the people’s credit the last 6 and a half years. If we keep on partying, we’re going to go bankrupt as a nation, because we are on an unsustainable path. See for yourself. Here’s the link to the Concord Coalition article.
To read "America's Economy: Headed for Crisis" please follow the link below:
http://www.concordcoalition.org/events/fiscal-wake-up/docs/070803-Op08-BudgetPaper.pdf
http://www.concordcoalition.org/events/fiscal-wake-up/docs/070803-Op08-BudgetPaper.pdf
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