To those who read my blog a
hearty thank you and an apology. I
have been busy with several issues, to include writing a book, and have not
been diligent in finishing a number of items that I started. Further, one might think that in the
run-up to an election as significant as this one seems to be that it would
behoove me to write more. But,
frankly, there are many who are more capable of writing about such things and I
leave it to them.
I believe Governor Romney will
win this election, though I encourage all his supporters to get out and vote –
there is no such thing as a sure thing.
I hope the Governor wins the election and I believe he will be a good
president – better than average.
That being said, as I said to a
very pleasant fellow who came by the other day and encouraged me to vote, this
election is not the end, it is the beginning. We cannot and should not even try to delude ourselves that
is it, to steal Churchill’s phrase, ‘the end of the beginning.’ No, this is truly the very beginning.
There is so much that needs to be
done. The list is long and I will
only mention the key items:
We must institute steps that lead
to a balanced budget. The current
plan – the one endorsed by President Obama (for which he claims to have reduced
the deficit by $4 trillion) – looks forward 10 years and leaves the U.S. with a
national debt of $24 trillion (down from a projected $28 trillion – hence the
‘reduction.’) That means 10 more
years of deficits greater than $500 billion each year. We need to reduce that annual deficit
to zero and beyond – the government needs to be running small surpluses.
We need to ‘enshrine’ those
surpluses. The Federal Government
has shown beyond any shadow of doubt that it is a terrible steward of the
people’s wealth and cannot be trusted with the power of raising debt. The Constitution should be amended to
preclude the use of debt in all but Congressionally recognized national
emergencies.
Entitlements need to be
reduced. As painful as that will
be, the simple numbers don’t lie: over the next 75 years the U.S. government is
scheduled to pay out $211 trillion (yes, $211 trillion) in entitlements. Remember, that number is over and above
all routine government spending (Defense, highways, national parks and all of
that). That number is
unsustainable. There are two steps
that need to be taken to survive this problem as a nation: we need robust
economic growth – greater than 3% per year real growth (over and above
inflation), and we need to reduce unemployment to less than 4% while increasing
labor participation to greater than 65%.
In short, we need to create a minimum of 2.5 million new jobs every
year, for at least the next 40 years – then the number per year has to
increase. To put that in
perspective, between 2008 and today, the net job growth in the US is around 1
million jobs – so we are 9 million short for the last 4 years. There are many incredibly painful
interconnected issues: tax codes, healthcare codes, regulation of businesses –
that will bear directly in whether we can sustain real economic growth. Congress will have its work cut out for
it.
We need to reduce the cost of
energy. Raw, basic energy is the
driver of every element of the economy – and the cheaper it is, the more you
can do. We need cheaper electricity,
and we need cheaper transportation.
We need to invest in oil, gas, coal, nuclear power, as well as any and
all ‘renewables’ on an even playing field – economic viability is the only
metric we should use.
The world, despite all the hopes
of man, remains a dangerous place, and despite some recent reporting, is
probably going to get more dangerous as certain technologies proliferate. We need to be safe and we need to
protect our interests and those of our allies and true friends.
Four huge issues: rein in
government, spur the economy and set it on a path of long-term and sustained
growth, move to energy independence, and protect the nation. It can be done. It will be a long and often difficult
journey, and we are only – hopefully – beginning on Tuesday. We must recognize that, after we ‘pop
the champagne’ this week, the real work is just beginning.
Still, every journey begins with
a single step, and Tuesday, we take that first step.
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