A new kitchen table for Congress?

As of July 30, 2008, the United States Congress has spent $9,540,453,424,495.37 more than it has taken in. (If you lost track of the zeros, that's 9.54 trillion dollars!)
The estimated population of the United States is 304 million people, so each citizen's share of the national debt is $31,337. That's ‘each’ citizen — you, your spouse, your child, your grandchild, your grandmother, everyone!
And if the 9.54 trillion is not enough, consider this; it's growing by 1.74 billion dollars every day, and now there is talk about raising taxes to offset this deficit. People, people, people … this is not the answer. The answer is quite simple. STOP SPENDING SO MUCH!
Spending in Washington D.C. has reached an unacceptable level. Unacceptable to me that is. If I looked down at my checkbook and saw I was 9 trillion dollars overdrawn, I might want to slow down my spending habits a bit, you think? I'd sit down at the kitchen table with a pot of coffee and go to work, trimming my expenses.
So what's wrong with the folks in D.C.? Can't they see that we are headed toward a financial crisis that would make the latest Freddie Mac bailout look like a flea on an elephant's Fannie May? We have had mismanagement, abuse and fraud in FEMA, Corps of Engineers, Indian Affairs, NASA and virtually across every procurement department in the U.S. Government. Either they are nuts, don't care or don't have a kitchen table.
Maybe they are too busy shopping. It's reported that Veterans Affairs employees racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in government credit-card bills at casino and luxury hotels, movie theaters and high-end retailers and Department of Agriculture employees charged a total $5.8 million in personal expenses that included Ozzy Osbourne concert tickets, tattoos, lingerie, bartender school tuition, car payments and cash advances.
As the American people struggle to cope with high gas prices and rising food and health care costs, they are forced to make solid kitchen-table decisions about what they can afford and what they can not. And I can tell you they are making these decisions with a lot more intelligence and fortitude than anyone in Washington.
The time has come for our representatives to gather around the U.S. Congress’ kitchen-table and admit to each other, “We can not afford some of the luxuries we have been wasting the citizens' money on, and we are going to put a stop to it immediately.”
They should ask us what we need and don't need, but because you and I know that will never happen, let's just throw a few suggestions out there. Keep in mind the fundamental role of government is to provide for its citizens things they are unable to provide on their own.
Here, congressmen and women, chew on this while you're at the table.
First, get out of the business of business. You never understood it in the first place and every time you get your fingers into the kitty, the consumer gets scratched. So let's get started with the Department of Agriculture. Get rid of it. Yes, the whole thing. What would happen if it were gone tomorrow? Would the corn die on the stalk? Would the swine swoon to an early death? Of course not. Close it down, and put supply and demand back into play and save 30 billion dollars.
Next should be the Department of Commerce. Gotta go. That's 7 billion a year gone. And what would happen if it disappeared tomorrow? The international lobbyists would have to drink by themselves as there would be no one home at Commerce any longer. Oh, the loans to save the Pacific Salmon would dry up, but that's OK. We should never have been in the fishing business in the first place. That's what Americans do, not governments.
Whoa, look out now as we ax the entire Department of Education. Over 60 billion dollars saved in one fell swoop. It never was the responsibility of the federal government to educate our children. It was done with local money and local school boards, and the education delivered was the best in the world. Now, ever since the feds got into education, America has plummeted down in the world's educational preparedness list. It is typical of government. Try to save the leaking ship by throwing gold at it and it will sink every time.
Next is Housing and Urban Development. All 40 billion dollars, gone. Where in the Constitution does it say the government will supply houses for its citizens? It's absurd and not a role of the government. Then the Department of Labor is next. Poof, it's gone too and the 7 billion dollar price tag along with it. Again, what would happen to this country if tomorrow morning you woke and read the Department of Labor is closed because we can't afford it any more? That’s right, nothing we couldn't overcome.
And agencies by the dozen could end up in the dumpster, too. What would happen if all these were gone tomorrow? Agency for International Development ($5 billion), State and Tribal Assistance Grants ($4 billion), International Assistance ($4 billion), Endowment for the Arts ($120 million), Corporation for Public Broadcasting ($500 million), Foreign Military financing ($5 billion) and the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corp ($114 million).
Government had no business in any of this and now, with our debt growing by nearly 2 billion dollars A DAY, it's time for the government to curb its addictive appetite for pet programs and our hard earned money. Put another pot of coffee on and bring it to the kitchen table. This is going to take some time.
Contact — greg.awtry@yorknewstimes.com