Jack McCandless – 10/19/08

This page was last updated on October 19, 2008.

America needs a reality check; Jack McCandless; Beaver County Times; October 19, 2008.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“We have a problem.

“We all — people, businesses and governments — believe that we can borrow our way to happiness and prosperity.

“Well, we can’t. Somebody has to be the adult and spend less than we make and save for a rainy day.

“The rainy day has come and we have no umbrella.

“So the answer that the politicians and the financial folks have come up with is to increase our debt even more by printing money we don’t have and adding to the national debt. This increase in the debt will be pushed off into the future onto our kids, their kids, and anybody else we can convince to buy our Treasury bonds.

“That way we can pump money into the banks so they can lend it to people so they can buy more stuff. The business of the country is capitalism and the engine of business is consumerism.

“I’ve heard that 70 percent or more of our economy comes from American consumers. Trouble is consumers buy widgets from China and other foreign producers that have cheap labor.

“How about this? Let’s tell the politicians to invest in our future by pumping money into our own country. Pumping that borrowed money into much-needed infrastructure improvements provides jobs for Americans, and we end up with new highways, bridges, water systems, electric lines, etc., made in America by Americans, not by foreigners.”

[RWC] Seriously, Mr. McCandless wants to turn over his family’s hard-earned income to “politicians to invest in our future?” Would these be the same politicians that squander our taxes on just about every goofy redistributionist scheme that comes down the pike? What about the taxes we already paid that were supposed to be used for bridge/road maintenance? Does Mr. McCandless know our overall (local, state, & federal) tax rate (33%) is already near its historical high (34% in 2000), and 25% higher than its highest point (26.1% in 1943) during World War II?

“That way when the debt clock hits another trillion or two or six, we have something to show for it not, just more stuff for a garage sale.”