I am a Republican who is actually serious about balancing the budget, a rarity. I have said for many years the Democrats buy their votes with handouts to their supporters and the Republicans buy their votes with tax cuts; we cannot afford either. When we are out of power we are fiscal conservatives, when we are in power we are tax cutters and big spenders; e.g. Bush and Medicare Part D. Reagan cut taxes in 1981 and added $1.7 trillion to the national debt. George W. Bush cut taxes in 2001 and the debt went up $5.85 trillion. Both promised their tax cuts would pay for themselves. Obama extended the Bush cuts and added $9.95 trillion to the debt. Now the Congressional Budget Office projects adding $1.5 trillion over 10 years attributable to the 2017 tax cut. While the corporate tax cuts are permanent, the ones for individuals are temporary. Speaker Ryan assures us these tax breaks for individuals will end up being permanent, further increasing the debt.
Among the arguments for spending more money is defense. The US spends as much on defense as the next seven nations combined; how much is enough? Eisenhower said that “we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence ….. by the military industrial complex.” Now the “defense budget” is more about defense contractors than defense of the USA.
The Army Chief of Staff said in 2012 that the Army had enough M-1 tanks (6,000), we are still buying them. We pay $100 million for a F-35 which is inferior to, but costs much more, than the two planes it replaces. A large percentage of the defense budget is wasted.
The retiring Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mullen, said the greatest threat to our national security was the national debt.
Jim Shockley, USMC Ret.
Victor