Ask your congressional candidates about the ‘cancer’
The basic premise of the Bowles-Simpson presentation to the governor’s association was that present federal revenue is consumed by the obligations of three federal entitlement programs: Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
“The rest of the federal government, including fighting two wars, homeland security, education, art, culture, you name it, veterans – the whole rest of the discretionary budget is being financed by China and other countries,” Simpson said.
“We can’t grow our way out of this,” Bowles said. “We could have decades of double-digit growth and not grow our way out of this enormous debt problem. We can’t tax our way out. The reality is we’ve got to do exactly what you all do every day as governors. We’ve got to cut spending or increase revenues or do some combination of that.”
President Obama’s $3.8 trillion budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2011 only identifies $2.57 trillion in revenue while running a $1.27 trillion deficit, continuing deficits begun in the Bush administration.
Before casting another vote for Congress in Mississippi, voters should know how the candidate they are supporting feels about the “cancer” threatening national security – debts and deficits – and how the candidates propose to treat it.
At some point, debts and deficits have to begin to matter to voters.
Sid Salter
Clarion Ledger
7/14/10
Magnolia Tribune
