Billionaire Politics - 'Giant Sucking Sound,' Part Deux

[WhiskeyGirl]

'Giant Sucking Sound,' Part Deux

During his first run for president, billionaire Ross Perot famously warned that the North American Free Trade Agreement would create a "giant sucking sound" by vacuuming away American jobs. Sixteen years later, he's worried that out-of-control spending and the current presidential contenders are sucking away hope of addressing the giant pile of federal debt.

"We only have a few years left to get our financial house in order," says Perot. He points to the massive federal debt load, already $9.4 trillion. The problem will only grow worse as the first baby boomers begin collecting Social Security and Medicare benefits.

Perot, 77, says neither John McCain nor Barack Obama is adequately addressing the issue of U.S. debt. The two-time Presidential candidate declined to say which of the two he'd like to see in the White House next year.

Analysts say tax plans of both candidates will throttle tax collections and point to even greater deficits. According to a study by the Tax Policy Center, McCain's tax policies would lower tax revenues by $3.6 trillion over the next decade. Obama's policies would lower them by $2.7 trillion over the same period.

Nor does Perot believe either candidate has dealt with the issue of mandatory spending. While discretionary spending, including defense, must be approved annually by Congress through appropriations bills, mandatory spending--for things like Social Security and Medicare--carries on year after year, as dictated by prior law. According to the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think thank, discretionary spending has risen 152% since 1965. Mandatory spending has risen 759%.

"The annual increases are largely on autopilot, so that no one has to vote for or against them each year," Perot says

(snip)

Although there was a brief run of balanced federal budgets while Bill Clinton was in the White House, big deficits quickly returned under George W. Bush. The Treasury Department recently announced that the deficit jumped to $269 billion during the first nine months of the budget year, up 122% from $121 billion recorded during the comparable period a year ago. Perot says that's why he recently launched the Web site PerotCharts.com --to highlight the growing problem.

He isn't the only billionaire with that on his mind this election season. Peter G. Peterson, 82, is spending $1 billion to establish a foundation to spur action on the deficit and other issues. Peterson is the co-founder of the asset manager Blackstone Group (nyse: BX - news - people ).

read more here and watch the interview -

http://www.forbes.com/business/2008/07/15/perot-nafta-taxes-biz-billies-cx_af_0715perotroundtwo.html

www.PerotCharts.com

[WhiskeyGirl]

July 14, 2008
The Caucus

Spending $1 Billion to Restore Fiscal Sanity

By JOHN HARWOOD

(snip)

Because he wasn’t born yesterday, Mr. Peterson, co-founder of the Blackstone Group and a secretary of commerce under President Richard M. Nixon, will spend $1 billion in an effort to get the public’s attention. The money, which comes from the windfall Mr. Peterson received when Blackstone went public last year, will finance a media blitz, starting with a documentary, “I.O.U.S.A.”

The film aims to startle voters and politicians alike, and summon them to the task of closing the long-term imbalance between what the government will take in and what it has promised to pay out, most notably through Social Security and Medicare.

Mr. Peterson, 82, says he yearns for the can-do spirit that helped politicians forged by the Depression finance the G.I. Bill of Rights, the Interstate highway system and the Marshall Plan from the ashes of World War II. Yet he is uncertain of finding it through the torrent of trivia from the 21st-century politics of rapid response teams, microtargeting, cable television rants and angry bloggers.

“Has something fundamental happened to the character of our people or our societal structure, or has no one stepped up to provide the leadership?” Mr. Peterson asked. “We’re not going to know that until we try.”

(snip)

The Web site of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation flashes a frightening fiscal fact: The looming retirement of 78 million baby boomers has generated unpaid entitlement obligations that are triple the size of the entire economy — $175,000 for each American.

...“We just need fiscal sanity,” said David M. Walker, the foundation’s president and a former comptroller general. He warns that looming debt will ultimately make today’s housing and financial market crises seem like small change.

(snip)

Mr. Peterson’s foundation is planning an active Internet strategy, tapping bloggers and social networks to reach young voters, who typically pay little heed to far-off fiscal obligations. In early 2009, as the new president takes office, the foundation will try to draw attention with programming on public television, and possibly television advertisements and infomercials.

The effort resembles those of public policy advocacy groups, with a big exception: the money Mr. Peterson has put behind it. After decades in and around public life, he knows that is his only chance to make an impact.

“You can buy a lot of airtime” with $1 billion, Mr. Peterson said. “People are going to hear from us.”

read the rest of the story here-
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/14/us/politics/14caucus.html?em&ex=1216180800&en=d77e2db0e64a12cc&ei=5087%0A

Peter G. Peterson Foundation
http://www.pgpf.org/

"I.O.U.S.A." Gains Washington's Attention

July 14, 2008

Buzz about "I.O.U.S.A.," the PGPF-supported, nonpartisan documentary that tells the story of the national debt, is growing in Washington. The film will screen for reporters in the area on Monday night.

The screening follows a private showing last week on Capitol Hill for members of Congress and other invited guests. In attendance were House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Senate Budget Committee ranking member Judd Gregg, among others. Since then, a number of other members, including several in the congressional leadership, have asked to see the film. The movie also will screen for attendees of both presidential conventions courtesy of a brand-new film festival being announced on Tuesday.

As CEO Dave Walker announced at PGPF's official launch in New York last week, "I.O.U.S.A." will premiere with an unprecedented national media event broadcast to 400 theaters on August 21 before opening in 10 cities around the country the following day. The August 21 event - stay tuned for more details! - is one example of how PGPF intends to make innovative use of media to raise the public's awareness and inspire them to act on the fiscal challenges threatening America's economic well-being.

"I.O.U.S.A." is directed by acclaimed documentary filmmaker Patrick Creadon ("Wordplay") and is being distributed by Roadside Attractions ("Super Size Me"). It tells the story of the country's four key deficits - budget, savings, balance of payments/trade, and leadership - and their implications for the nation and its citizens. We are faced with an ever-expanding government and military, increased foreign competition, and financial obligations that will become ever more difficult to honor absent meaningful reforms. As 78 million baby boomers begin to retire and collect benefits from the government's over-extended entitlement programs, an economic crisis of epic proportions awaits.

(snip)

IMHO - the US needs to educate more engineers, scientists, and people that promote a financially sound basis for the nation's government. 
 

[WhiskeyGirl]

Obama, McCain and Fiscal Disaster

By Steve Chapman-Syndicated Columnist

...We are doomed. There is a fiscal asteroid on course to pulverize us, and no one is coming to the rescue.

...This year, federal spending will exceed federal revenue by more than $400 billion. Given the weak state of the economy, the deficit will get worse before it gets better.

...it may never get better, because the current shortfall coincides with the start of the most dreaded fiscal event of all time: the retirement of the baby boomers, who will soon consume eye-popping amounts in Social Security and Medicare.

(snip)

McCain doesn’t say how much that would save, but it wouldn’t be a lot. Those expenditures amount to only 17 percent of all federal outlays. Eighty-three percent of the budget would keep on growing. After a year, so would the other 17 percent.

He vows to follow up with “comprehensive spending controls.” But promising to control spending in general means promising to control nothing in particular.

(snip)

The Republican standard-bearer, however, acts as though the task will be easy. Among the methods offered in this plan: “Eliminate broken programs. The federal government itself admits that one in five programs do not perform.” How about naming one? How about promising to pound a stake through its heart?

When it comes to spending, though, Obama is even worse. The National Taxpayers Union Foundation added up all the promises made by the two candidates and found that McCain’s would cost taxpayers an extra $68 billion a year. Obama’s add up to $344 billion a year.

The Illinois senator’s pledge to get tough on unnecessary expenditures is as solid as cotton candy. Among his vows is to “slash earmarks to no greater than what they were in 2001,” but earmarks make up less than 2 percent of the budget. Trying to restore fiscal discipline by cutting earmarks is like trying to lose weight by adopting an exercise program for your left index finger.

Obama claims he’ll pay for all his new spending with new revenues and spending cuts. But like McCain, he has been hazy on the details. And it will be far easier for him to get Congress to approve new spending than to enact the measures needed to pay for it. Unless Obama is willing to take on his own party with the veto pen, we should expect four more years of irresponsible budgeting.

His only defense is that he would not have to make up as much lost revenue as his rival. The Tax Policy Center says his tax plan would cut federal receipts by $2.7 trillion over the next decade, compared with $3.6 trillion for McCain.

...regardless of who wins: Washington will spend more, red ink will roll down like a mighty river, and we as a nation will continue to dodge the critical choices we face.

It would be nice to think some unexpected event will save us from the consequences of that folly. But as McCain is fond of saying, it’s always darkest just before it goes totally black.

(snip)

read the rest here -
http://www.mexiadailynews.com/opinion/local_story_197223521.html?keyword=secondarystory