We the People: the bigger picture

Many months ago I wrote an article about David Walker’s warnings about the fiscal direction of this country.  Mr. Walker, the former Comptroller of the United States from 1998 until 2008, has been warning politicians, the media, and the American public for over a decade that we are off course and headed for disaster. In August 2007, before the financial system meltdown of 2008, Mr. Walker declared:

The US government is on a “burning platform” of unsustainable policies and practices with fiscal deficits, chronic healthcare underfunding, immigration and overseas military commitments threatening a crisis if action is not taken soon. There are striking similarities between America’s current situation and the factors that brought down Rome, including declining moral values and political civility at home, an over-confident and over-extended military in foreign lands and fiscal irresponsibility by the central government. The fiscal imbalance meant the US was on a path toward an explosion of debt. With the looming retirement of baby boomers, spiraling healthcare costs, plummeting savings rates and increasing reliance on foreign lenders, we face unprecedented fiscal risks. Current US policy on education, energy, the environment, immigration and Iraq also was on an unsustainable path. Our very prosperity is placing greater demands on our physical infrastructure. Billions of dollars will be needed to modernize everything from highways and airports to water and sewage systems.

Three years have passed since Mr. Walker sounded the alarm and issued his dire warning. The National Debt in August 2007 was $8.9 trillion. Today it stands at $13.6 trillion, a 53% increase in just over 3 years. It took 205 years as a country to accumulate $4.7 trillion of debt. We’ve added $4.7 trillion in the last 38 months. It doesn’t appear that anyone in government heeded Mr. Walker’s warnings.

The last funding report I received a few days ago from the Montana Legislative Fiscal Division stated the projected shortfall we will face in about two and half months will be around $386 million. Considering the bigger global financial picture and Mr. Walker’s warnings, I believe this figure could go higher.  The agencies that require tax money to exist are already lining up with, “don’t cut our funding”.  Every time I hear a comment like that I wonder where they expect the money to come from to continue the status quo?  I keep going back to the legitimate function of government, that is protecting the people from those who do evil.  In other words, funding for the National Guard, the Montana Highway Patrol, and the state highway system are a few examples.  We all depend on the functioning of these agencies and their ability to respond to a need when it arises.  Everything else must be evaluated from an objective point of view.  For example, let’s take education.  I take the view that funding should be prioritized at the local level, in other words, K-12.  Then there is the issue of funding for health and welfare programs.  I have personally witnessed the abuse of these systems and that problem must be addressed. When an agency is faced with less money to operate, that agency director is going to be faced with the tough decisions on what can be eliminated or reduced.  The state is not on an easy road and each agency is going to have to work together to solve the fiscal problems.  Increasing taxes is not an option. Practicing fiscal restraint and personal responsibility will win the day.

I would like to hear some postive solutions from you about where funding changes should or could be made. My email is ghinklesd7@gmail.com or you may call me at 827-4645.