Edward Kuyweski – 4/17/11

This page was last updated on April 17, 2011.

Stop scare tactics and tell the truth; Edward Kuyweski; Beaver County Times; April 17, 2011.

Mr. Kuyweski wrote at least seven letters since mid-2009. The only previous Kuyweski letter I critiqued was “Don’t touch our entitlements.”

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“After months of talking and yelling, Congress voted on a budget minutes before the government shutdown.”

[RWC] It was not a budget; they voted on a continuing resolution to fund the federal government for enough time to pass a funding bill for the remainder of the fiscal year that ends 9/30/11.

“Members then went on TV and patted themselves on the back and claimed victory. President Barack Obama, Democrats and Republicans: It’s all politics and not what’s good for the country.

“Their actions were disgraceful and shameful, but you can’t shame a politician. Government shutdown meant no money for our military personnel and their families. That’s worse than shameful; criminal is a good word.”

[RWC] For political reasons Mr. Obama and Democrat congressional leaders chose not to pass a budget for the current fiscal year (FY 2011). The Democrats knew they were already in trouble for the 2010 election and another budget with increased spending and a $1+ trillion deficit would simply destroy any chances they thought they had. They couldn’t even pass a budget with some cuts for show out of fear this would discourage the Democrat base and reduce Democrat voter turnout, again hurting their election results. Instead, Mr. Obama and Democrat congressional leaders opted for continuing resolutions to keep spending at then-current levels, hoping voters wouldn’t notice.

“Then there are the politicians who gave us a $14-$16-trillion deficit and $4 for a gallon of gas, which means food prices going up.

“It’s never their fault. But the politicians get paid, plus free food, free medical, free travel and more.

“Why don’t they cut pork-barrel projects, travel less, pay some of their medical care and cut House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s chocolate-covered strawberries? If former U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter isn’t willing to cut his retirement pay and benefits, don’t touch our Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.”

[RWC] I’m all for the things Mr. Kuyweski mentioned, but in total they wouldn’t amount to rounding error relative to the budget, deficit, and debt. Letters like this tell me most of us don’t really understand how bad our current fiscal problems are. They also make it even tougher for politicians to do the right thing.

As of our last passed budget (FY 2010), “Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid” spending consumed about 43% of the budget. Add to that other “mandatory” spending and the interest on our debt, and the percentage jumps to about 61%. We could eliminate all “discretionary” spending and national defense spending and we’d still be running a deficit.

Medicare and Socialist Security are Ponzi schemes and Ponzi schemes can’t be fixed. Other than what comes in via current taxes, all Medicare and Socialist Security taxes collected were spent a long time ago. The mythical Medicare and Socialist Security trust funds are nothing but IOUs issued over the years by a federal government that’s about $14 trillion in debt and growing.

“And stop the scare tactics. Tell the truth. It’s a shame people don’t trust their government, but it’s worse when the government doesn’t trust the American people.”

[RWC] Given I believe he doesn’t know how bad our fiscal problems are, I suspect Mr. Kuyweski would consider “the truth” to be “scare tactics.”