The United States is heading in the wrong direction. Our national debt is high and international respect is low and sinking further. We are immersed in scandals that shake the chambers of government. The administration is aloof and almost silent about the scandals and the mainstream press follows suit. The porous southern border has been a sieve for illegal unaccompanied children placing pressure for spending unbudgeted funds. The immigration court system, the US Border Patrol and other federal and state agencies are working with frayed nerves and fuzzy directives. After six years in office, the President and the Congress have made little progress to update immigration law. As a substitute, the administration tells some jurisdictions to overlook the law.
The food stamp program (SNAP) in the Department of Agriculture (DOA) has increased to about 47 million people. The rolls of disability have grown to more than 14 million recipients. Workers receiving unemployment benefits are not required to look for a job or participate in the hundreds, perhaps thousands of government, industry and academic training programs.
Here are some current statistics you should know about: The national debt now stands at $17.6 trillion or more than $151,000 per taxpayer. The US population is over 317 million fielding a workforce of 146 million, with only 118 million (81%) full time workers. There are 24 million government workers (4.3 million federal, 19.7 million state & local). There are 92 million qualified workers not in the workforce.
The fiscal 2014 budget calls for spending of $904 billion for Medicare, $840 billion for Social Security (including SSI and disability), $80 billion for SNAP and you and I are paying $226 billion annually for interest on the national debt. Consider the meaning of some of these statistics: One of every 13 people is a government worker. Just 2.5 full time workers are buying groceries for each food stamp recipient. All taxpayers would need to pay full income (expropriation) to the government for 5.3 years to cover their share of the national debt. About one in six people is on food stamps.
Inequality is a word used a lot by the President in recent days. The racial divide was supposed to shrink and heal just as the floodwaters would recede at the President’s command. The reality is that Black citizens have an unemployment rate of 11.4% while the average for all workers is 6.2% (July, 2014, Bureau of Labor Statistics). In the US population of 317 million people, Blacks comprise 12.2% (US Census Bureau) but represent 39.8% of welfare recipients and 39.4% of the population of more than 2 million inmates held in federal, state and local penal institutions. The President and other Black leaders don’t seem to be moving the needle downward on births by single Moms among Blacks that remains at more than 70%. Still, about 95% of Blacks voted for Mr. Obama, apparently believing the President’s words without regard for what he has (not) done and is (not) doing for the Black minority.
National renewal by a nation of 317 million people is a vast undertaking but could be done by a willing populace. First, every able-bodied person should have a job. Welfare should no longer be an occupation or a profession. Each unemployed claimant would fill out job applications and submit to interviews weekly. If unable to find a job in four months, the claimant would attend training classes for jobs that are available in the area. After six months, the claimant would receive 5% less in welfare payments each month until a job is found. Some welfare payments would continue based on the family’s income.
The next critical change would be to repeal the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and replace it with a health savings account as advocated by Dr. Ben Carson and others. The health savings account would be assigned at birth and would have flexibility, decreased costs, engage more insurance companies and cover all citizens.
Next installment: Part II of ‘A Conservative Plan for National Renewal
– Dick Baynton
