RepRichCebra's Blog

Is U.S. on the road to bankruptcy?

By Representative Rich Cebra

 

 

“There is no native criminal class except Congress.”

 

—Mark Twain

 

 

 

For more than a century, the American people have known that Congress is corrupt, a collection of ambitious hustlers, self-serving greed heads, tax cheats and outrageous imbeciles. We’ve watched their drunken antics, their sex scandals and their talent for getting rich while in office. Every so often a good man or woman makes it into the House or Senate, a real patriot who actually cared about our country. Such people are too few and far between.

 

Most Americans tolerated the Washington cesspool as long as the Congress critters left us alone and kept their stupidity contained inside the Beltway. Despite the damage these “leaders” inflicted on the nation, our system of free enterprise kept the country afloat. We thrived, creating the highest standard of living in history. Our farmers fed the world and our pharmaceutical firms provided cures for many of the worst diseases. Meanwhile the Bill of Rights kept these power-mad congressional buffoons at bay. Observing them was like watching a stadium riot on TV. It was too distant to affect our lives.

 

But now we’ve reached a breaking point. With one party controlling Congress and an inexperienced, unaccomplished novice in the White House, we now have a government that’s driving us to socialism and third world status. By forcing banks to give mortgages to people with no jobs, no assets and no income, congressional Democrats have touched off a global financial collapse.

 

We also must hold accountable the greedy bankers on Wall Street and the Democrat operatives who looted millions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But it was Congress that refused to rein in the wild frenzy as toxic mortgages spread like milfoil throughout the world’s financial system. To make sure Congress turned a blind eye to the gathering storm, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac made large “donations” to Capitol Hill regulators, such as Senate Banking Committee chairman Chris Dodd. Number two on the list of recipients of Fannie Mae money was none other than Barack Obama, now president of the United States.

 

The economic meltdown created by Congress has wrecked the stock market, the banking system, the housing industry and the economy. American families have lost trillions of dollars they had saved for retirement, or to send their kids to college. Millions of people are unemployed. States, including Maine, are in dire financial straits. Retail stores have been shut down from coast to coast. And we’re told that the worst is yet to come.

 

Now in a panic, and with their approval ratings collapsing, Congress has lurched into action with the so-called stimulus package of $787 billion. It’s the largest single expenditure in American history, and it was jammed through Congress before members even had a chance to read the bill. The ringleader was the dangerously inept speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, who rushed the thing through at warp speed because she had to catch a flight to Italy to meet the Pope – at taxpayers’ expense.

 

The stimulus plan, of course, is an abomination. It is packed with hundreds of billions in pork that will not produce lasting jobs. It includes billions of dollars for left-wing extremist groups, payback from Mr. Obama to his supporters. Instead of lowering tax rates and capital gains rates – which would have stimulated the economy – the economic ignoramuses controlling our country decided to try spending our way to recovery. In the process, they have added to the staggering mountain of debt that awaits our kids and their kids.

 

We’re told that the plan will cost $787 billion. But that’s a low ball. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the real cost will be $3.27 trillion over the next decade. That’s right – trillions. Hidden deep inside this 1,000-page monster are new and expanded welfare programs that are permanent. The bill also repeals the Welfare Reform Act of 1996, so we will again be treated to the spectacle of the “welfare queens” made famous by President Reagan.

 

As grim as things look now, they will get even worse. The national debt is about $12 trillion, and now we have added some $9 trillion in bank bailouts and guarantees. After the bankers took the first $350 billion installment, the money vanished without a trace. The Wall Street types handed each other huge bonuses with our tax dollars, but they didn’t use the money as intended – to begin lending again. Where is it? The bankers won’t say.

 

Now comes more disturbing news. According to the “2008 Financial Report of the United states Government,” released by the Treasury Department, total federal obligations, including Social Security and Medicare benefits, total $65.5 trillion. That exceeds the gross domestic product of the entire world.

 

Where on earth will we find the money to make good on this unimaginable debt? China and Japan , which historically buy our debt, are themselves floating bonds to raise money to salvage their own economies. So are the Europeans. Congressional stupidity over the years has left us some nasty choices. We can wildly inflate the currency to pay off these debts in money that will become worthless. Or we can raise interest rates high enough to attract whatever money is available to be borrowed, but those higher rates would kill off the same economy we’re trying to save.

 

In their rush to “do something” to fix a problem they created, the Washington  elites have moved us a big step closer to national bankruptcy.