A Boston Tea Party …(A Big Turkey)

Imagine knowing someone who owns a mansion, has a dozen cars, goes on vacation six months of every year, and complains daily to you that he is broke. This example is similar to what we hear from our politicians. Congress adjourned last week after passing a $388 billion dollar spending bill that included $16 billion in additional pork spending. These same politicians continually preach about the ever-rising deficit.

Alan Greenspan warned last week that if the deficit is not brought under control the American economy would suffer and interest rates will rise. We see both Republicans and Democrats voicing their outrage over the lack of fiscal responsibility but when it comes time to create spending bills it is same old same old. Shouldn’t we be slowing the growth of spending and also eliminating any unnecessary spending? The Republican Party is now 100% in a leadership role. So why don’t they lead?

President Bush should veto the spending bill and go to the American public to gain support for more fiscal responsibility but he won’t. He can argue that he is for tax and social security reform but unless he is willing to hold Congress accountable for wasted spending, he isn’t being totally upfront with us. The only hope any politician has for reducing the deficit is for the economy to boom and/or to raise our taxes. The economy is a gamble. If we were to have another attack like 9/11 then it is back in the tank. We elect them to lead and lead they should. Make the hard choices whether they are popular or not and stop any unneeded expenditures. Washington is a big turkey that needs its head cut off and that goes for both parties. If federal spending was kept under control we could all keep more of our money and we would not have to hear how broke the federal government is. I don’t want to hear any more deficits talk, at least not as long as continue to line their pockets with pork. You can’t have it both ways. $16 billion in pork in spending bill after spending bill is outrageous. Why do we put up with it?