Rodent Regatta

People who read this stuff regularly know that I’m a conservative who is terribly frustrated with career politicians at the local, state and Federal levels. You’ll also recognize that one question remains out there, unanswered by Democrats or Republicans. In short form the question is, ”How much is enough?” The longer variation is, ”What do you believe is the appropriate percentage of every dollar I earn from any source that should be provided to the government in taxes including car tags, wheel taxes, driver’s licenses, property taxes, sales taxes, income taxes, social security taxes and all other forms of taxes and fees confiscated by the government?”

There is not a candidate in next year’s Presidential race who has answered or is prepared to answer this question. There is not a person who has run for office in the past thirty years who can answer that question. No one is prepared to boil the Federal budget down to something that could be understood or managed like the income and expenses of any other entity complying with GAAP standards.

I know I need a good handbook or course in civics. I’m quite sure – at a detailed level – that I have no idea how things got the way they are or why. Who handles Social Security – what department? Who’s got Medicare? There ought to be a one-to-one relationship between line items for departments and people around the conference table at a cabinet meeting. Reports of income and outgo ought to foot and cross-foot correctly. (Those are old bookkeeping terms for you Democrats out there!)

For starters, I want to see a pie chart. I want that pie chart divided into slices based upon all the money sent to the Federal government in all forms. I want to see operating budgets for the President and the White House, the Vice President, the Cabinet, the Supreme Court and Congress. In other words, the pie chart represents the cost or expenses associated with running each of these offices or departments and all the ”services” they claim to provide. A performance ratio ought to be the cost of the services delivered divided by the total budget of the department. Higher is better and means less ”government friction” scraping off money into the system.

The pie chart should show ALL the money. There should be no other money with any other label such as ”off-budget” or similar chicanery. From there every dime spent should be questioned. Some departments should be shut down completely.

The total of all the slices – the whole pie – should be the budget of the USA. Someone show me that. Show me that kind of thinking in the creation of a national spending and taxation plan. Manage this country’s finances in a way that the nation’s taxation and spending can be understood by anyone who has ever sat at a lemonade stand.

Here’s just one example of where the problems begin:

The President and Congress determine how much money they expect the Government to receive in each of the next several years, where it will come from, and how much to spend to reach their goals—goals for national defense, foreign affairs, social insurance for the elderly, health insurance for the elderly and poor, law enforcement, education, transportation, science and technology, and others.

from A Citizen’s Guide to the Federal Budget
for Fiscal Year 2001

What if they’re wrong about what they ”expect” to receive? Nobody budgets that way. They should ask, ”how do we spend 10% less next year and improve the services we provide?” Absent what I’m suggesting, we wind up with a national situation that looks exactly like California’s situation, only there will be more zeroes.

Here’s another example of a problem:

The 2004 Budget was transmitted to Congress on February 3, 2003 and covers the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2003.

from the OMB website

Let me be the first to suggest that you not wait until early May of next year before preparing your 2004 spending plan!

Clearly, there are excuses and reasons for the way the process has become distorted. Bureaucracy and size are two of the reasons. It’s time to get serious about solving the problems. That won’t happen with more career politicians interested only in preserving the status quo. It won’t change with strident campaign slander and rhetoric. It won’t change with this guy shooting his mouth off either!