Figure 1 – Harvard/Harris Poll
January 30, 2024 – We find ourselves in an era of disruptive change and innovation, yet our political system remains stubbornly stagnant. In 2024, the prospect of a Gore-Romney ticket for President and Vice President of the United States emerges as a beacon of hope for much-needed political upheaval in Washington, D.C. A Harvard/Harris poll reveals that a staggering 67% of voters from diverse political backgrounds yearn for “another choice” beyond Biden and Trump (Fig. 1). Enter the Gore-Romney ticket as Independents—a unifying force capable of rallying support from Democrats, Republicans, and Independents alike. There is still time for them to be included on the ballots. (more…)
Excerpts from Confessions of an Old Man
“There’s nothing like doing things with other people’s money.” President Donald Trump
March 22, 2020 – Every US president since Reagan has added hundreds of billions to the national debt compared to his predecessor. President Trump may top all the previous presidents by having an estimated annual deficit of $1 trillion by 2020 or even sooner. Congress and the White House have been living on the backs of the younger generation since 1980 by continuing to spend more than they collect in taxes. They have no plans to balance the budget, nor do they have any plans to pay back the principal on the debt. Having no intention or plans to pay the national debt is nothing less than stealing from the MI generation.
In May 2016 candidate Trump proudly claimed, “I’m the king of debt. I love debt.” As president, he has made it clear that he does not mind if deep tax cuts result in a ballooning of the national debt. He proved that by signing the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in December 2017. During the 2016 campaign, candidate Trump bragged about using other people’s money. He said:
“It’s called OPM. I do that all the time in business. It’s called other people’s money. There’s nothing like doing things with other people’s money.” However, in this case, OPM is coming from the MI generation. The reason Congress and the White House don’t care and continue to add to the national debt is because it is not their problem. Congress’s own self-interest trumps any concerns it may have for high national debt’s detrimental impact on future generations. They will be long gone before any of the serious problems from uncontrolled national debt surface. (more…)
Our handling of the national debt is like a grand, inter-generational Ponzi scheme that’s destined to drown our children and grandchildren in red ink. Our leaders like to call their strategy borrowing, but it is really tantamount to stealing — from our children, worse yet. Why? Because we have no plans to pay the debt. None. We continue to borrow just to make interest payments that are estimated to be $5 trillion over the next decade while doing nothing to pay down a staggering debt of $17 trillion.
Equally alarming, perhaps even surreal, is that party leaders who can hardly agree on the color of the White House can be found nodding their approval at the fiscal fiction “that deficits don’t matter,” as then-Vice President Dick Cheney told a disbelieving Paul O’Neill, the treasury secretary at the time.
Fast forward a decade to President Obama, the anti-Cheney, who was telling George Stephanopoulos on ABC that “we don’t have an immediate crisis in terms of debt. In fact, for the next 10 years, it’s gonna be in a sustainable place.” House Speaker John Boehner, considering the President’s comments in a separate ABC interview, concurred that the crisis is not immediate. This pervasive Washington attitude is reflected in Office of Management and Budget’s 2014 projections that show the national debt haplessly climbing skyward through 2020 with no sign of coming down.
(more…)
