Gary L. Bauer
American Values In spite of our nation's $16 trillion debt, some liberals don't believe we have a spending problem. At a Senate committee hearing yesterday Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) made this astonishing statement:
"We're the richest nation in the history of the world. … If we’re so rich, why are we so broke? Is it a spending problem? No, it's because we have a misallocation of capital, a misallocation of wealth. All of this wealth that's been built up by hard-working Americans has been accumulated into fewer and fewer and fewer hands all the time. …
If you are tempted to think Sen. Harkin has a point, watch this video.
Sadly, Harkin's socialist delusions have spread far and wide. A big reason why the fiscal cliff talks between President Obama and Speaker Boehner broke down was because of Obama's insistence that we did not have a spending problem.
Taking the extreme rhetoric to new heights, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) compared the upcoming sequestration spending cuts to slavery. First she made this bizarre comment, "We're at the bone almost, and sequester, that is across-the-board cuts, will literally destroy us and put us in a recession."
Let's take a timeout for perspective. The sequestration cuts total $1.2 trillion -- over the next ten years. During that same amount of time, the government is expected to spend about $46 trillion. We're talking about a 2.6% reduction in spending over a ten-year period. This year's cuts amount to $85 billion -- when Obama is running deficits of $1 trillion a year and spending well more than three times that amount. Does that sound like "cuts to the bone" to you?
Taking the extreme rhetoric to new heights, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) compared the upcoming sequestration spending cuts to slavery. First she made this bizarre comment, "We're at the bone almost, and sequester, that is across-the-board cuts, will literally destroy us and put us in a recession."
Let's take a timeout for perspective. The sequestration cuts total $1.2 trillion -- over the next ten years. During that same amount of time, the government is expected to spend about $46 trillion. We're talking about a 2.6% reduction in spending over a ten-year period. This year's cuts amount to $85 billion -- when Obama is running deficits of $1 trillion a year and spending well more than three times that amount. Does that sound like "cuts to the bone" to you?
Facts aside, Jackson Lee also said, "I stand here as a freed slave because this Congress came together. Are we going to be able to do it today to free America?" Free America from what?
When you hear liberals talking like this it makes you wonder what they would do if they had total control of Congress. Well, we don't have to imagine. Senate Democrats have announced a plan to solve the $85 billion sequester cuts with -- you guessed it -- higher taxes and more spending. Harry Reid has devised a $110 billion plan that raises another $55 billion in taxes. The net result is an additional $25 billion in spending!
And they are just getting started. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) is promising to bring another massive energy tax to the Senate floor this summer. Her "cap and tax" scheme is expected to suck out of your pocket another $120 billion a year! These "libs" all need to check into a tax and spend addiction clinic to dry-out.
And they are just getting started. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) is promising to bring another massive energy tax to the Senate floor this summer. Her "cap and tax" scheme is expected to suck out of your pocket another $120 billion a year! These "libs" all need to check into a tax and spend addiction clinic to dry-out.
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