There are two sides to every story concerning President Obama and Democratic surrogate attack dogs Vice President Joe Bidden, Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid, Democratic House minority leader Nancy Pelosi along with New York Democratic Senators Charles Schumer, Kirsten Gillibrand and lame duck Congressmember Gary Ackerman. They will all quickly pile on attacking Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney with the usual cliches of being in bed with ultra right-wing extremists and Tea Party supporters by selecting Wisconsin Republican Congressmember Paul Ryan as his running mate for vice president.
Their own well-funded political machine includes use of public office press staff paid for at taxpayers expense, Democratic Party local, state and national campaign committees, national Democratic Congressional and Senate campaign committees, local, state and federal union, liberal, environmental, so-called independent political special interest political action committees and guilt ridden millionaires and billionaires such as George Soros, who combined have easy access to spend several hundred million dollars.
They will join hands and sing the same old tired tune attempting to link Romney with Republican Congressional Budget Committee Chairperson Paul Ryan’s proposed budget plan as too radical. This will be supplemented by their Hollywood supporters, friendly media columnists and editorial boards.
All Ryan’s proposal does is to reduce the level for future growth in spending to a slightly lower level than what President Obama proposes. Democratic Senate majority leader Harry Reid has been more preoccupied with winning enough seats to maintain control rather than propose any budget solutions of his own. He even refuses to bring up for a vote any proposal to fund virtually all federal agencies or programs prior to October 1, 2012, the official start of the new federal fiscal year. Ditto for Democratic House minority leader Nancy Pelosi. She wants to regain control of the House.
Ryan will offer a clear competing contrast of ideas to Vice President Joe Biden with his “Path to Prosperity” budget. Ryan reminds me of 1996 GOP Vice Presidential candidate, Buffalo Congressmember Jack Kemp.
Both Ryan and Kemp want to promote economic growth and job creation. Each reached out beyond the GOP ideological conservative base to moderates, independents and middle of the road Democrats to consistently win reelection. Both could reach out to African American, Hispanic and other members of the gorgeous mosaic which is America. Ryan stands head and shoulders above past GOP Vice Presidential candidates such as Sarah Palin and Dan Quayle.
His detailed knowledge of our federal budget process will be an asset in bridging the gap between the White House and Congress. I look forward to the Vice Presidential debates between Biden and Ryan
Everyone has long since forgotten that decades ago balanced budgets were supported on a bipartisan basis by both the president and Congress regardless of which party was in control Congressmember Ryan would reduce the current years $1.18 trillion deficit to $797 billion in federal fiscal year 2013. President Obama would reduce this deficit next year to $977 billion. In 2016, Republicans would reduce the annual budget deficit to $241 billion. President Obama would reduce this to $529 billion. Republicans would increase the overall debt between now and 2022 by $3.1 trillion. President Obama would increase overall debt by $6.4 trillion. Neither the Republicans or President Obama offer a real balanced budget anytime soon.
There are solutions which no one is talking about today. Several years ago, Republicans proposed first returning to 2008 spending levels. There was no public outcry from Democrats in 2008 including our own Senators Schumer and Gillibrand along with Congressmember Ackerman that the sky was falling. They didn’t say that Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and a multi-trillion dollar government safety net were going to end. The 2008 budget was prior to the one-time stimulus, TARP, auto industry bailouts and cash for clunkers expenditures. Now everything needs to be on the table including the infamous “third rails” of American politics – Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and military spending.
There are real reforms which President Obama, Democratic Senate Majority leader Harry Reid, House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi and colleagues will not support.
Sadly, with the exception of a few brave Tea Party supported Republican members of the House and Senate, a majority of Republicans will not support the following ideas.
Why not actually implement “pay as you go” budgeting, means testing for all government assistance and sunset provisions for agencies and programs that have completed their missions. End pork-barrel member item spending, stop paying farmers to not grow crops and abolish corporate welfare subsides via tax deductions.
Close down obsolete military bases abroad and reduce United Nations and foreign aid to those who offer no support when needed. End the wasteful war in Afghanistan. Return to an open budget process rather than midnight omnibus budget adoption.
America is on a path to go from the world’s superpower to the world’s super debtor nation. The poor and middle class will suffer. There will be no safety net for anyone. We need real action today, rather than to wait decades to balance our budget, as Obama and colleagues propose. By then it will be too late for America to save itself.
People need to hold both President Obama and Congress accountable for the current economic decline, which has reached down to our own local neighborhoods of Great Neck, New Hyde Park, Herricks, Williston Park and Garden City. The statute of limitations has long since passed blaming former President George Bush for all our current woes.
Four years have gone since he served. President Obama had a Democratic majority in both the House and Senate for his first two years in office. Despite spending several trillion dollars in various economic stimulus programs and bail outs, there has been no significant improvement to our economy. With 8 percent of our neighbors out of work and another 7 percent have just given up looking. This results in a real unemployment rate of 15 percent.
Many have joined millions of other Americans attempting to get by on part or full time jobs paying minimum or slightly above minimum wage. Almost 1 in 6 Americans are now living in poverty. Is this what Obama’s campaign promise of “Change we can believe in” meant? In the meantime, the national debt has increased over $5 trillion dollars under his administration with nothing to show for it.
Are you better off today than four years ago? Remember that Obama said that if he couldn’t reduce the unemployment rate to 5 percent, he deserved to be a one-term president.
Larry Penner
Great Neck
