Priorities

Did you ever notice (maybe you were on Mars for the weekend) that every time government is looking for new revenue, or taxes as we know them, the pols roll out the same threats to discontinue the most sensitive services. Top of the list is always the possibility of interrupting Social Security checks. Visions of grannies scrambling for a crust of bread are envisioned, followed closely by shutting down help for the poor, the sick and the lame. On a local level, the perennial favorite is a reduction of public safety entities. No cops to answer the 911 calls and get ready to watch your house go up in flames for lack of adequate fire protection. Laying off teachers is usually in the mix too. And the (greater) we usually fall for it. If legislators comes out against new taxes, they will be pilloried during the next election for fiscal crimes against humanity.

We aren't buying it.

Here are a few suggestions for alternative measures of reducing the spending gap. Rather than raising taxes, they could:

Defer indefinitely the plans for new high speed rail lines. Who would notice?

Cut the funding for pork-laden earmarks. Talk about a target-rich environment.

It may be too late, but who thought that we had to have all those new mile-marker signs on our highways at two-tenth mile intervals. These could wait, maybe forever.

Speaking of signs, how about those beauties that announce the fact that the federal government stimulus money is paying for road maintenance? Insult added to injury.

Obamacare off the table? Trimming this porker might just restore fiscal sanity and mental health all by itself.

Social Security was designed to be an insurance plan. Everyone received benefits in proportion to what they had contributed. This was not a handout funded by general tax revenues. Moreover, the contributions were to accumulate to pay benefits, not to be looted to fund pork. Tip O'Neill said that Social security was the third rail of politics. Politicians who tried to cut benefits got fried. On the other side of the coin were those demagogues who would vote benefit increases in order to be able to crow about it during the next election. To the uninformed it seemed like a free lunch, when in fact, it was a step towards destroying a reasonably equitable, albeit government-mandated, program.

You get the idea, there are at least a zillion things that could be deferred or even eliminated before you need to go after the Golden Agers. Send in your suggestions and we will give you full credit when we compile the comprehensive list.