Smith Faculty Opinion Article
The 30 Seconds Outlook
May 15, 2011
“Anything you tax, you get less of. Fact of life.”
- William Dunkleberg, National Federation of Independent Business.
What does the Congressional Budget Office have to say about increasing
government spending and the growth in the federal debt?
“What alarms the CBO is that federal debt is growing faster than nominal
gross domestic product. At $10.4 trillion, that debt now equals more than 66% of
nominal GDP, up from around 33% in 2000 and higher than it ever has been, except
during and immediately following World War II. And the CBO's "baseline
projection" has the figure hitting 75% over the next 10 years… and then
continuing to climb (Barrons, 5/2/11).”
There is nothing that so reflects the fallacy of quality government
management than what is offered to our veterans. Next, is our healthcare.
“As a disabled veteran myself it pains me to see the absolute disgrace that
the VA hospital is to our people (anon.).”
There are hundreds of “no brainer” examples of government waste, of which the
following are just a sample:
- 47 job training programs, of which 44 overlap.
- 80 programs for the “transportation disadvantaged.”
- 82 programs across 10 agencies to “improve teacher quality.”
- 56 programs across 20 agencies to “improve financial literacy.”
- 2,100 data centers (from 432) across 24 agencies.
John A. Haslem
