Column: Al Arends, My Point of View

I am sitting here at 3 a.m. and shaking my head. I am usually a very optimistic person, but I believe our country is heading for a financial tsunami. We have just passed a bill in Congress that will reduce spending by $39 billion. It sounds pretty big until you realize that it is only 2.6 percent of the debt that our country is going to incur in 2011. Instead of having a debt of $1,500,000,000,000, we will only have a debt of $1,462,000,000,000. The numbers are staggering and the Republicans had to fight to get the president and the Democratic-controlled Senate to agree to this.

Our government is borrowing 40 cents on every dollar it is spending. That amounts to about $4 billion a day. How long do you think we can do this before China says no more? How do we solve our problem then? It’s called “inflation.” It starts with high food and gas prices. The government covers this up by not including these items in the rate of inflation, but you know when you go to the grocery store what is happening. And who does it hurt the most? The poor and the middle class. What do the Democrats want to do? Tax the rich and take the capital out of the capital-creating market. Don’t get me wrong; I don’t like to hear about those multi-million CEO salaries. I ask the same question as you do, “How much is enough?”

Let me ask you a question. When a family runs into a situation where Mom or Dad has lost a job and the family has lost a one-third or half of its income, do they run to the bank and borrow money to buy a new car or go on a vacation? No, they cut their spending because the bank will not lend them money when they cannot pay it back. They only buy the necessities until they get back on their feet again. It is tough, but they have to do it.

Our politicians are now facing the next tough decision and that is raising the debt ceiling from $14.2 trillion to $15 or $16 trillion. Is that good for our future or the future of our grandchildren? Of course not, because the interest on the debt will consume most or all of the government revenue and the answer is not to tax our capital markets. We must rein in the cost of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, defense spending and all other things that are not a necessity. It can be done, but it is going to be painful and it is a burden that has to be shared by everyone.

I can hear the arguments right now. The Democrats are going to say it’s easy for rich Republicans to tell others to cut back and that the Republicans want to cut programs for the poor and middle class. The Republicans are going to say that we have to cut back on programs and reduce the size of government. This type of rhetoric needs to stop because both are right and it doesn’t solve the problems.

What is the answer? Let’s look at the debt commission appointed by President Barack Obama and its plan and the budget proposed by Congressman Paul Ryan. There is some similarity in their proposals. It should be the start of a plan to bring back some fiscal discipline and begin reducing our debt so that our children may have a future. Let’s work together.

Do I believe the wealthy can pay more in taxes without destroying our capital markets, which would result in higher unemployment? Yes. But a person who has been successful does not want to pour good money into bad investments and the U.S. is a bad investment until it gets its spending under control.

Alan B. Arends is a member of the Freeborn County Republican Party.