[StBernard] Fat City

[Westley Annis]

THE CONSERVATIVE REVIEW - December 18, 2009

Fat City
by Pat Buchanan

"It's time to stop worrying about the deficit -- and start 
panicking about the debt," the Washington Post editorial 
began. "The fiscal situation was serious before the 
recession. It is now dire." 

The editorial continued: 

"In the space of a single fiscal year, 2009, the debt 
soared from 41 percent of the gross domestic product to 
53 percent. This sum, which does not include what the 
government has borrowed from its own trust funds, is on 
track to rise to a crushing 85 percent of the economy by 
2018." 

What are the risks of an exploding U.S. public debt? 

The Chinese, Japanese and Arabs still buying that debt 
will begin to suspect they are holding onto paper on 
which the United States will default, or will cheapen 
by inflating its currency -- as the Germans did in 1923 
to avoid paying war reparations. 

When they do, they will stop buying U.S. debt and start 
dumping. The Fed will then have to raise interest rates 
to attract borrowers, throwing the economy into a 
tailspin. 

Is Congress even aware of what is happening? 

Harry Reid is talking about doubling Medicare rolls to 
include folks 55 to 64. Facing a second straight $1.4 
trillion deficit, Congress is moving to raise the debt 
ceiling by another $1.8 trillion. 

And the lead story in the Post Monday began: 

"The Senate cleared for President Obama's signature on 
Sunday a $447 billion omnibus spending bill that contains 
thousands of earmarks and double-digit increases for 
several Cabinet agencies." 

Total cost of the Senate bill passed Sunday was "$1.1 
trillion, including average spending increases of 10 
percent for dozens of federal agencies." 

Ten percent hikes for federal agencies? What is going on? 

Democrats say the money is needed to make up for the 
neglect of the George W. Bush years. But the Bush years 
were the fattest years for federal social spending since 
the Great Society. 

Sen. Dick Durbin says the spending is necessary "to keep 
cops on the street... so that families feel secure. 
... Money spent to help our first responders, firefighters 
and policemen is a critical investment." 

But aren't cops and firemen a state and local 
responsibility? 

"It is business as usual, spending money like a drunken 
sailor," said Sen. John McCain. "And the bar is still 
open." 

But when sailors get drunk and spend crazily, they are on 
shore leave and spending their own money. When they get 
back aboard ship, they sober up and shape up, and do the 
vital work they enlisted to do. 

These congressmen never stop bingeing. They are addicts. 
They are alcoholics. And they are spending our money. 
According to Taxpayers for Common Sense, there are 5,200 
earmarks in that one Senate bill, which averages out to 
12 pork projects for every House member -- and 52 for 
every senator. 

What is going on in Washington?

Democrats are following the Rahm Rule of White House Chief 
of Staff Rahm Emmanuel. "Don't allow a crisis to go to 
waste. ... There are opportunities to do big things." 

The Party of Government is exploiting the economic crisis 
to grow the government. And from the standpoint of self 
interest, this makes sense. Most government employees are 
Democratic voters, as are most beneficiaries of government 
programs. 

Moreover, Democrats have to get the money out the door 
before the midterms, where the party is going to take a 
bath and lose power. 

How else to explain this lead story last week in USA 
Today: 

"The number of federal workers earning six-figure salaries 
has exploded during the recession. ... 

"Federal employees making salaries of $100,000 or more 
jumped from 14 percent to 19 percent of civil servants 
during the recession's first 18 months -- and that is 
before overtime pay and bonuses are counted. 

"Federal workers are enjoying an extraordinary boom time -- 
in pay and hiring -- during a recession that has cost 
7.3 million jobs in the private sector." 

When the recession started, the Defense Department had 
1,868 civilian employees earning $150,000. Defense now 
has 10,100. The Transportation Department had one person 
earning $170,000 when the recession began. Transportation 
now has 1,690 employees earning above $170,000. Recession 
in America means boom times in D.C. 

The financial crisis that almost sank the capitalist system 
was the work of Washington and Wall Street. The Fed created 
the bubble. The White House and Congress goaded banks into 
making all those subprime mortgages. Fannie and Freddie 
bought up the lousy paper and turned it into securities. 
Wall Street banks bought them up and put them on their 
books as Triple A assets. Federal regulators looked the 
other way. 

Yet happy days are here again on Wall Street. And 
Washington never saw better times, with federal workers 
now earning, on average, $31,000 a year more than workers 
in the gutted private sector. 

Is this the government the Founding Fathers dreamed of -- 
or is this the kind of arrogant government they took up 
arms against?