A Case for Democratic Budget Balancing

In my lifetime, (I am approximately middle aged), there has been one President who balanced the budget, Bill Clinton; there have been two Presidents who entered into war, both Bushes; there was one President who spent enormous amounts on defense without a war, Reagan; and there was one President who was just nice, Carter. I don't remember LBJ or Nixon, except as History Channel specials. This is a highly subjective over-simplification but it's where my memory starts.

I have always thought that Democrats seemed better at balancing the budget than Republicans.

I decided to put this idea to the test tonight. I decided to look for the facts (that's what this blog is about). Below is a link to the document I would have written had someone else not already done it. This article was written by Dr. Stephen Bloch of Adelphi University.

For those of you who can't bear to slog through a scholarly article, although easy to read and well written, let me summarize:

First, the information is derived from the Department of the Treasury. Dr. Bloch explains everything he did and why.

The last Democrat to show a budget deficit was LBJ. The last Republican was George W. Bush.

The largest deficits in history are all under Republicans, that includes FDR during World War II and the Great Depression.

Personal observations: Democratic economic principles allow the "little guy" to get off the ground. Witness the stellar economy under Clinton. The dot-com economy was bound to collapse under its own weight, but the Clinton administration policies made it possible for business people who are not established to get a start. It helps that Al Gore invented the Internet! :)

Republican/Conservative principles do exactly what the name says: they conserve the status quo. This means that those who are already successful will continue to be successful, but those who are trying to get a foothold will have a harder time.

One example is the idea that under Democrats, the Federal Government will provide more small business grants than under a Republican administration. This helps start-ups to get off the ground.

The "tax and spend" concept might make good bumper stickers or talk radio, but if you tax and spend on the right things, the economy gets better. The rest is simple: More people making more money pay more taxes therefore less deficit.

What does all of this mean for today... As the economy improves, the tax rolls will expand. Leaving taxation levels alone will go most of the way to solving the country's debt problems. Then we need to plug the heinous gaps in our spending, foremost of which is the wars that we are cleaning up, which at one point cost the US taxpayer $1 billion per week each!

Click here to read Dr. Bloch's article: U.S. Federal Deficits and Presidents Stephen Bloch.

Dr. Bloch's personal page at Adelphi University is here.

I would like to thank Dr. Bloch for his hard work and for showing all of his sources and methodology. 

The Search for Employment in America

There is a constant theme in America today: We need more jobs, find us more jobs, the stimulus was supposed to create jobs, JOBS, JOBS, JOBS!

Well, here's an observation from my little corner of the world: People don't want to work!

I know of a company that pays reasonably well for its area, has a great local reputation and the job is relatively prestigious for a service industry position. The number of viable candidates for this position: 0! That's right, zero. Most of the applicants have terrible work histories, no experience or a very unreliable background.

What people really want is to continue to collect their unemployment checks until their old job in their old field comes back. Newsflash: That ain't gonna happen! Buggy whip makers had to find something else to do and so should you.

A lot is made of the fact that America has lost thousands of manufacturing jobs overseas. So what! First it was the Japanese, then the robots and computers, now it's the Chinese and the Indians. Let 'em have the manufacturing jobs. Go back to school, learn computer design or entrepreneurship or alternative energy science or anything with a future.

I hear you saying it: But this is what my daddy did and his daddy before him. This is what I want to do?

Really? And what about his daddy or his daddy... chances are somewhere along the line one of your ancestors decided to stop scraping a bare existence out of someone else's soil and went and found a new skill.

America has the opportunity to be the world leader... not by going backward to the industries that made the 20th Century- "the American Century,"  but forward into  the 21st Century. We don't need to do the building, other people will do it for us. What we need to do is tell them what to build. No one in the world is better than Americans at innovation and invention.

What are the keys to a Great American Future?

1) Education. If we can get back to educating our students, we will be better able to dominate world business. This includes making college more affordable and more worthwhile. (See my blog posting on philosophy in school.)

2) Reasonable, Restricted Accountability in Business: Government in the US should make sure that the businesses that are perceived by the world to be American companies are leading the world in human rights, environmental responsibility and fiscal transparency.

3) Industry Oversight Organizations: Groups assembled by different industries to oversee the conduct of companies in their industry. A little bit of self-control would be wonderful.

4) Taxation with a Purpose: The endless cry that taxes are too high misses the point. Americans are willing to pay for what they get, but governments (local, state & federal) need to show people in a clear and simple way, where their money is going. Justify what you take and we will care less that you take it.

5) Predictable Policies Toward Business: Every time a new party takes over they begin to dismantle the stuff that the previous governments put in, regardless of whether they are working or not. Kill the things that don't work and try new things. Stagnation is worse than confusion, but not much.

These are just the beginning of ideas to move America into the 21st century.

Open Letter to My Republican Legislator

Dear Mr. Lasee,

I am writing to ask you to remain independent during this time of extremely partisan battling.

In Governor Walker's Budget Repair Bill was a provision to sell Wisconsin's energy assets, not to the highest bidder, but to whomever the Governor and/or his appointees decide. That is not a Conservative value nor a Wisconsin way of doing business.

The Senators who have left the state have left using the closest thing to a filibuster we have in Wisconsin. They should be acknowledged for their tenacity and for standing up for what they believe is right.

The budget proposal is over-reaching and, Mr. Lasee, I know that you know that. The budget cuts to local governments makes sense, but the state should not then restrict local governments from doing what they feel is necessary to keep services available. If the federal government were to do the same thing, they would protests throughout Madison and the state.

We are in the fiscal mess we are in because too many people pandered to the loudest donor. They literally sold our state for the easy road. There is, however, difference between correcting course and running aground on your principles.

Mr. Lasee, please consider what is truly right for the people of Wisconsin, not just what is politically expedient for the moment. I am asking that you review this new budget objectively and honestly. That is a conservative ethic and the Wisconsin Way.

Thank you and God bless the great state of Wisconsin.

Bob Peryea

How Does It Really Compare?: Local Gov't. Wages v. Service Industry

In reading through the Governor's budget, I began to think: What percentage do other similar businesses pay for labor?

The business that came to mind was a hospital. They have a large labor force, don't actually make anything and provide a service with minimal materials.

Here's how they stack up:

From page 38 of the Governor's budget:

From "Trends in the Use of Contract Labor in Hospital" by American Hospital Directory, Inc:

The winner is LOCAL GOVERNMENT! Local government pays 43%, hospitals pay 52.4%! Apparently we are getting a deal! And, oh yeah, hospitals are mostly profitable.

Unfinished Business is the Linchpin to Gov. Walker's Budget

During his address to a joint session of the State Legislature, Governor Scott Walker repeated several times that the "tools" provided by the Budget Repair Bill will be necessary for local governments to balance out the cuts proposed in his biennial budget.

The problem is that the Budget Repair Bill has not passed and soon will be a moot point.

According to Governor Walker, the changes to collective bargaining provided by the Budget Repair Bill would allow local governments to not only compensate for the cuts in state aid, but allow them a surplus that they can apply to other parts of our childrens' education.

At the same time, he proposes freeing the UW Madison and UW Milwaukee from the constraints of answering to the state. He also proposes the creation of charter schools all over the state and parents' choice in the Milwaukee area as well.

In this one man's opinion today, that is a lot to promise while cutting the budget significantly.

It remains to read in the budget what parts will work and which ones won't.

The Greatest Failing of American Education

A very good friend of mine, with very different political views, got me to thinking about something that I have believed since college.

The lack of philosophical education has destroyed critical thinking. Lack of critical thinking causes us to choose leaders who are 'pretty,' not leaders who are wise.

Aristotle Contemplating the Bust of Homer by Rembrandt

If one does not know history, one is doomed to repeat it. Everyone know this axiom, but know actually does anything about it.

Witness the small minded ideas of people who use the public school system to enforce their point of view. Text books that minimized slave trade, ones that don't mention the excesses of union, one that emphasize the contributions of one group or another.

This evening on NBC Nightly News they interviewed the head of Intel who said that our lack of investment in education will be our downfall (I'm paraphrasing). He was speaking specifically of math and science, but I would argue that philosophy and literature are the subjects that give reason to the former.

How many of our students leave high school or even college understanding the centuries long exploration of human rights, political systems, economics, and our relationship to the universe? How many understand the Copernican Revolution, let alone the Kantian Revolution?

In short, the best way to keep America at the top of world, strong and wealthy, we must educate our children in every subject, not just the ones that will earn them a great starting salary. In the end, the salary is just the start, life comes sometime after that.