E-Newsletter No. 23________November 2015
Opportunity for All, Favoritism to None

Last week the US House of Representatives and US Senate passed legislation to (again) suspend the country’s debt ceiling, choosing to kick the can down the road, this time until March 2017. In effect, our elected representatives have decided that fiscal responsibility can wait until after the presidential election next November.

As the country’s two major political parties begin hosting their presidential candidate debates, the fundamental differences between the two parties are coming into focus. During the initial Democratic debate on October 13th, Senator Bernie Sanders highlighted a couple of very important issues about the country’s political situation, and he is absolutely right –

“There is a profound frustration with Establishment Politics”

“The government is involved in our emails… is involved in our websites…. Yes, we have to defend ourselves against terrorism, but there are many ways to do this without impinging on our constitutional rights and our privacy rights.”

Our Editorial Board agrees with Senator Sanders that the level of frustration with Establishment Politics is growing, and this is borne out by a number of statistics. Congress’ approval rating has continued to be stuck in the low teens for the past several years. More than half of the country’s citizens disapprove of President Obama’s job performance. More than half of the country’s citizens disapprove of the Supreme Court’s performance. But the most alarming statistic is the growing level of voter apathy. As Senator Sanders noted during the debate, 63% of eligible voters did not go to the polls during the 2014 mid-term elections. The level of voter participation continues to drop each election cycle. So the questions remain – If not us, who? If not now, when?

Our Editorial Board also shares Senator Sanders’ concern about the infringement on our citizens’ constitutional rights by an ever-expanding federal government. However, Senator Sanders stated that his primary concern is not necessarily the large federal government, but the country’s billionaire class and large corporations (which happen to be the source of many of our citizens’ better paying jobs). We agree with Senator Sanders that we need to continue to address the issue of influence peddling, and we need to guard against any favoritism that the federal government doles out to any corporation, or to any labor union, or to any other special interest group (any “sub-segment” of the population). However, our Editorial Board is much more concerned about the protection of our citizens’ rights, and the possibility of our country being damaged by our massive, ever-expanding federal government and our country’s growing debt problem.

Unfortunately, neither Senator Sanders (nor any of the other Democratic candidates) made any mention of the need for the federal government to exercise fiscal responsibility. It should be noted that this “oversight” might have been by design, because none of the debate moderators ever raised any questions about the cumulative US debt, and none of the candidates put forward any solutions on how we can begin repaying the country’s $18.4 trillion debt. Interestingly, the only time the word “debt” was uttered during the debate was during discussions about how the federal government should implement a new social program to help a sub-segment of the population pay off their student loan debt. Instead of discussing the need for smaller, better-managed government, Senator Sanders proposed several new social programs, such as “free” college tuition, an expansion of Social Security benefits, and an even larger federal government.

So what does our country need to do, to reverse the growth in federal government spending? We have added two new Conversation Pieces to our F2PPR.org website –

http://www.f2ppr.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Fair-versus-Unfortunate.pdf
http://www.f2ppr.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/A-Right-versus-A-Personal-Responsibility.pdf

US Debt Clock – – October 1st – $57,150 per citizen / November 1st – $57,203

E-Newsletter No. 22
October 2015
If not us, who?________If not now, when?

In this month’s newsletter, we were originally going to provide an update on the ongoing dysfunction occurring in our nation’s capitol now that Congress has returned from their August recess, and now that the federal government’s new fiscal year has begun on October 1st – – No budget for the upcoming year, Congress passing a short-term “Continuing Resolution” that merely pushes off the next round of the same problem until December 11th, No action on entitlement reform, No action on the country’s debt ceiling, etc., etc. However, we recently ran across an interesting Associated Press article with the headline “Household Wealth Reaches New High”, and we thought that we should share some of this information with you instead, and we could help put some of this information into perspective.

The article reported on a recently released Federal Reserve report that disclosed the Fed’s latest estimates of US households’ assets and liabilities as of the second quarter of 2015. The article was basically a “feel good” piece, which stated that the wealth of US households has recovered over the past several years and has risen to a new high of $85.7 trillion, and “rising household wealth can help boost growth by making consumers feel wealthier and more likely to spend.”

We have included the following link to the Federal Reserve’s report –
http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/current/z1.pdf

Here are some of the key amounts – – Total Household Assets – $100 trillion, Total Household Liabilities – $14.3 trillion, which equals US Households’ Net Worth (Wealth) – $85.7 trillion.

The Federal Reserve’s report contains some interesting details, but the report was more interesting for what it failed to include. Total Household Assets include $69.8 trillion of “financial assets” (with the details shown for bank accounts, stocks, bonds, treasury securities, mutual funds, etc.) and $30.2 trillion of non-financial assets (the largest amount being real estate). The $14.3 trillion of Total Household Liabilities primarily consist of $9.4 trillion for home mortgages and $3.3 trillion for consumer credit (credit cards, student loans, etc).

What we found interesting is that in determining the wealth of US households, the Federal Reserve includes treasury securities in US households’ financial assets, but fails to include the US households’ $18 trillion liability for the cumulative US debt that has been incurred by our federal government. In our opinion, the US Households’ Net Worth of $85.7 trillion should be reduced by 21% to show the effect of this liability. The US debt incurred by our federal government (on our collective behalf) exceeds the amount of liabilities that have been directly, consciously incurred by US households.

Maybe some fairy godmother is going to come along and make this $18 trillion liability magically disappear. (We suspect not). So maybe the Federal Reserve and Associated Press should make a note that in future press releases they should communicate all of the pertinent facts to our country’s citizens.

US Debt Clock – – September 1st – $57,120 per citizen / October 1st – $57,150

E-Newsletter No. 21
September 2015
If not us, who?______If not now, when?

Many of our recent newsletters have covered the creation (and subsequent expansion) of the “Entitlement State”. Unfortunately, the first step that our federal government took on this road towards fiscal irresponsibility started in 1935 with the “unfunded pension benefits” created under the Social Security program. We should keep in mind that this program was established with the best of intentions, which was to create a government program that would help keep elderly retirees out of poverty. However, the program provides an entitlement benefit to nearly all US citizens, without regard to a person’s / family’s financial needs during retirement. This is the fundamental flaw of the Social Security program.

In this month’s newsletter, we would again like to direct you to our Foundation’s website (F2PPR.org) and the Join the Conversation page, where we have posted “A Letter to Senator Bernie Sanders regarding Social Security” http://www.f2ppr.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/A-Letter-to-Senator-Bernie-Sanders-regarding-Social-Security.pdf . The letter discusses five “hypothetical” US citizens, their working careers and total wages, and the resulting amounts that they receive from Social Security.

As the letter points out, most of the scenarios do not make any sense (at all). A “Barely Eligible Recipient” who earned minimal wages for the minimum number of years needed to qualify for Social Security would receive a monthly benefit of $112 per month, or $1,344 per year. We believe that if this person doesn’t have any other financial means, they are probably someone who would need to receive assistance from the government or a charitable organization, but they aren’t getting much from Social Security.

Conversely, a hypothetical “Upper Middle Class Recipient” who earned wages equal to the Social Security wage cap each year (a total of $2.7 million) would receive $601,692 in Social Security benefits during their retirement, which is an amount that exceeds their contributions into the program by $433,591. This individual receives 3.6 times as much as they paid into Social Security. What’s even worse is that a “Very Well Off Recipient” who made twice the Social Security wage cap (a total of $5.4 million) would also receive $601,692 in Social Security benefits. So, here is the fundamental question – Why does the federal government pay pension benefits (and relatively higher amounts) to “financially secure” people who probably don’t need to receive these payments?

Our Editorial Board believes the reason that 8 out of 10 people think Social Security is such a great program is that many of our country’s citizens get back more than five times the amount they pay into the system. However, another way to look at Social Security (and any other “entitlement” program) is that our country’s citizens are being bribed with our money. What’s even worse is that (in reality) it is our children’s and grandchildren’s money, because there is no actual cash in the Social Security “Trust” (only intergovernmental IOUs). All of our payroll tax withholdings have already been spent (along with another $18.3 trillion that the government has borrowed against future generations).

As we recommend in The 2020 Initiative, Social Security should be transformed over a multi-year transition period into a means-tested welfare benefit. Eventually, these unfunded pensions should be phased out, and a “financial security” welfare benefit should only be paid to those elderly retirees who need assistance. Otherwise, this program will continue to steal huge sums of money from our children and grandchildren.

US Debt Clock – – August 1st – $57,032 per citizen / September 1st – $57,120

E-Newsletter No. 20
August 2015
If not us, who?_____If not now, when?

As we have discussed in the last few newsletters, our Editorial Board has shared a number of recommendations on how our country can move forward to Fix the Debt. In this newsletter, we would like to direct you to our Join the Conversation page on our Foundation’s website. We have added a new conversation piece entitled The 2020 Initiative which discusses six highly inter-related issues that must be addressed in order for our country to resolve the growing debt problem. The six issues are Fiscal Responsibility, Term Limits, Tax Reform, Welfare Reform, Social Security Reform, and Medicare/healthcare Reform.

Over the past several months, our Editorial Board members have shared these recommendations with a number of our country’s elected officials and with many of the candidates who are running for president. We have emphasized that in order to successfully begin re-paying the country’s outstanding debt, each of these six inter-related proposals would need to be implemented. Implementing only three of the six, or even five of the six, will not serve to accomplish the goal of paying off the country’s debt.

The first order of business is to have our country’s elected leaders acknowledge that pushing the country’s growing debt problem onto future generations is immoral. It will take true leadership (along with political compromise and bipartisan cooperation) to achieve fiscal responsibility and start repaying the country’s outstanding debt over the course of the next few generations. Our Editorial Board agrees with the following assertions by the Campaign to Fix the Debt –

The solution(s) to the country’s debt problem will need to include both spending reductions and increases in tax revenues.

Everyone in the country will need to make sacrifices and “give up something”.

The country is in a deep $18.3 trillion hole. Therefore, the first step needs to be “stop the bleeding” and reduce the annual deficit amount to zero. Even this first step will be extremely difficult to achieve. It will entail a significant transformation of our country – – away from the Entitlement State and away from “business as usual” in our nation’s capitol. We must begin to implement reforms to the country’s entitlement programs. Many of our recommendations represent a fairly radical change to the existing programs. But we can no longer delay. The country’s debt problem will not magically disappear overnight – – we must begin to act now.

It should be noted that no one (including the diverse members of our Editorial Board) will be in complete agreement with all aspects of these six recommendations. As we noted above, everyone is going to have to give up something if we are ever going to be able to move forward on the country’s debt issue. Everyone will naturally want someone else to pay to fix the problem. We are putting forward The 2020 Initiative as a set of inter-related changes that should be implemented, so that the country can return to a Self-Reliant Society, where We The People again promote personal responsibility, rather than rely on another government program.

US Debt Clock – – July 1st – $56,943 per citizen / August 1st – $57,032

E-Newsletter No. 19
July 2015
If not us, who?______If not now, when?

In last month’s newsletter we asked whether the “inalienable right to life” means the federal government is obligated to provide healthcare to the country’s citizens. Our Editorial Board continues to believe that the answer to this question is “No” – and the management of the country’s healthcare system is not an appropriate role of the federal government. Unfortunately, the size and scope of the Entitlement State continues to grow. And unfortunately, the Supreme Court has ruled that the country’s taxpayers must provide subsidies so that all citizens (including those who qualify for subsidies) can fulfill their “individual mandate” requirement under Obamacare.

But aren’t healthcare and welfare benefits an obligation of the federal government (as mentioned in the introduction to the US Constitution – – We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, … to promote the general welfare…) ?? Our Editorial Board believes that the answer to the welfare question is also “No”. The “general welfare” clause means the federal government has a general obligation to the country as a whole. It does not have an obligation to provide for the daily needs of each individual citizen, which is a personal responsibility.

So, what role should the federal government play in regards to welfare benefits? Our Editorial Board’s position is “basically none”. The federal government’s primary role is to protect the country as a whole, and effectively manage the relationships between our country and other countries in the world. It should have an outward (rather than inward) focus. Social services for individual citizens are much more effectively delivered at the local level, rather than by a government bureaucracy. We feel that welfare assistance is more effectively provided by Not For Profit charitable organizations, which are vastly superior to the federal government (or a state government) in the delivery of social services to people who need assistance.

As the federal government’s size and scope has grown over the years, one of the unfortunate side effects has been a reduction in the citizens’ financial support to these key civic / charitable organizations. This has happened because people have been led to believe that “the government” was going to solve the problem(s). However, the federal government’s War on Poverty, which began in the 1960s, has not achieved any measurable positive results. In fact, once the War on Poverty began, the percentage of people living in poverty stopped declining. The federal government’s welfare system has failed the poor.

The government has already spent roughly $22 trillion dollars on the War on Poverty since the 1960s (which exceeds the amount the government has spent on all military wars combined since the beginning of our nation’s history). President Obama’s proposed budget continues to advocate for this broken system, and recommends that the government spend another $13 trillion on means-tested welfare programs during the next ten years. We believe the federal government is the wrong entity to try to eliminate poverty. Social services delivered by Not For Profit charitable organizations prove to be much more effective in helping the poor become self-sufficient.

Our Editorial Board believes that in order to re-establish a self-reliant society, the federal government’s policies should be geared towards supporting the family unit and promoting personal responsibility. We believe the federal income tax code should be revised to help achieve appropriate levels of financial support to qualified Not For Profit charitable organizations (rather than have the funds diverted to another government welfare program).

US Debt Clock – – June 1st – $56,860 per citizen / July 1st – $56,943

E-Newsletter No. 18
June 2015
If not us, who?________If not now, when?

Here is an interesting question about the Entitlement State – – What about medical care? Doesn’t the Declaration of Independence mention an inalienable right to life (etc)? So, doesn’t that mean the government is required to provide health care? (The original answer to that question was “No”).

Unfortunately, over the intervening years since our country’s founding, a number of “progressive” presidents (such as Woodrow Wilson, FDR and LBJ) felt that the government needed to have (additional) powers to do whatever the progressives thought the “national interest” required.

The reason the Entitlement State is an un-American concept is that it was based on the belief that regular US citizens were incapable of managing their own personal lives. Therefore, it was up to the government to establish a program that would provide a retirement benefit for every citizen (not just for those elderly retirees who might otherwise need to rely on their family members, or turn to a charitable/civic organization for assistance).

But isn’t healthcare different? The answer is still “No”. Otherwise, that line of thinking would lead you to a conclusion that the federal government is also obligated to provide you with food and housing, too. Having said that… Our Editorial Board does believe that it is OK for the government to have a regulatory oversight (protection) role in regards to healthcare issues. One of the primary reasons Medicare came into existence in the 1960s is that insurance companies were reluctant to provide a health insurance policy to an elderly person with significant medical issues. However, the unfortunate consequence was a massive expansion of the federal bureaucracy to manage the country’s healthcare system.

The Entitlement State is one of the major drivers of the country’s annual deficit and cumulative debt. The country’s entitlement programs need to be reformed / transformed, because there are now fewer than three workers for each retiree. The annual deficit amounts for Medicare and Social Security are projected to continually increase each year, and the projected deficits for Medicare are even larger than the amounts for Social Security.

Our Editorial Board would like to see the restoration of commonsense regulation of the country’s healthcare system, by devolving it back to the states. The country’s private healthcare industry (which is a “regulated industry” at the state level) should continue to be the primary healthcare delivery system for the vast majority of the country’s citizens. In regards to the elderly (and “welfare-eligible” citizens) we feel that it is OK for the federal government to establish appropriate, minimum national standards (i.e., the rules and regulations). In addition, it is OK for the federal government to collect “Medical Care” payroll taxes, but those funds should immediately be refunded directly back to the applicable state for its healthcare program. It should be up to the US House of Representatives and US Senate to determine each year how much additional financial assistance the federal government should provide to each state to support each state’s healthcare program. The role of the federal government should be changed from a “management” (bureaucracy) role, to an “advisory / regulatory oversight” role.

US Debt Clock – – May 1st – $56,725 per citizen / June 1st – $56,860

E-Newsletter No. 17
May 2015
If not us, who?________If not now, when?

In this month’s newsletter, we share some additional excerpts from Don Watkins’ book entitled RooseveltCare (How Social Security is Sabotaging the Land of Self-Reliance) –

Self-reliant Americans eagerly pursued their own interest in concert with others by means of each person’s voluntary participation in families, communities, schools, and civic organizations. The American soul was a mixture of self-reliance and selfless service to others. America had an abundant system of private charity. [Unfortunately, this has now been replaced by the Entitlement State].

The century leading up to the passage of Social Security in 1935 would do more to relieve poverty and increase life’s security than any prior century in human history.

Social Security does not just “redistribute” wealth, it drastically reduces how much wealth is produced in the first place. It is not zero-sum – – it is negative-sum. When welfare state spending took off during the late 1960s, this is when America’s poverty rate stopped declining. This shouldn’t come as a surprise. When the welfare state transfers money away from the people who create it, it undermines how much wealth gets produced in the first place. The Entitlement State did not end poverty – it reduced prosperity. Poverty is not a distribution problem, it is a production problem. The Entitlement State has made each of us far poorer than we would otherwise be.

The best analogy for Social Security’s Trust Fund is to think of parents who set aside their child’s college fund in a jar, but who periodically “borrow” from the jar whenever they want to go on vacation, etc, and replace the cash with an IOU. By the time the child is ready to go to college, the jar is full of IOUs, which will not do a thing to help the parents pay for their child’s schooling.

The government can print green pieces of paper at will. But it cannot bring new wealth into existence by fiat.

In July 2013, rock singer Bono made headlines when he said, “Aid is just a stop-gap. Commerce and entrepreneurial capitalism take more people out of poverty than aid.”

The self-reliant person views productive work, not as a dreary duty, but as an avenue for prosperity, creativity, growth, fulfillment, pride, and joy. He / she does not envy the fact that others may achieve more than they do. His / her chief financial goal is independence.

The Founding Fathers took a crucial leap forward, by declaring that the collective has no claim on you; that the government exists only to protect your right to live your own life.

A self-reliant society nurtures freedom, justice, opportunity and prosperity. We must drop the platitude that the goals of the Entitlement State are “noble” – – those goals are un-American.

I am not my grandfather’s keeper. Parents do not steal from their children.

– – – – –

Mr. Watkins ends his book with a chapter on how we can abolish the Entitlement State. He encourages us to distribute his book to our friends and family. He asks “What are our chances of success? And on what time scale? If you know that a course of action is right, and there is a chance you can win, then you fight, regardless of the odds, and regardless of how long it will take.” Our Editorial Board whole-heartedly agrees.

US Debt Clock – – April 1st – $56,674 per citizen / May 1st – $56,725

E-Newsletter No. 16
April 2015
If not us, who?________If not now, when?

As we noted last month, in February 2014 the US House of Representatives and US Senate passed legislation to suspend the country’s debt ceiling until March 15, 2015. Unfortunately, our elected officials chose to not deal with this new deadline. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew wrote a letter to Congress, asking for an increase to the country’s debt ceiling, however, because the country’s legislators have not acted to raise the limit, the Treasury Department is implementing “extraordinary measures” to keep the federal government from defaulting on its debt. Some of these measures include putting a stop to contributions into certain federal employees’ pension funds, drawing down on other funds, and imposing moratoriums on payments to state and local governments. It is anticipated that these measures will enable the US government to push the problem off until September or October. Our Editorial Board has been disappointed (yet again) by our elected officials. President Obama’s fiscal 2016 budget proposal shows continued (growing) annual deficits out through the year 2025. There does not appear to be any serious discussions about fixing the country’s growing debt problem.

Last month, we began a discussion of Don Watkins’ book entitled RooseveltCare (How Social Security is Sabotaging the Land of Self-Reliance). In this month’s newsletter, we share some excerpts about the creation of Social Security and the beginnings of the Entitlement State – –

It is time to put the myths about Social Security to rest, and replace them with the truth: Social Security is an un-American program.

Now is the time, not to save Social Security and the Entitlement State, but to dismantle it.
– – – – – –
In next month’s newsletter, we will share some additional excerpts on how we can transform Social Security and begin to re-establish a Self-Reliant Society.

US Debt Clock – – March 1st – $56,615 per citizen / April 1st – $56,674

E-Newsletter No. 15
March 2015
If not us, who?______If not now, when?

Last year, the US House of Representatives and US Senate approved legislation to suspend any limitation on the US debt until March 15, 2015. In effect, they wrote themselves a blank check to continue to borrow and spend funds over and above the amount that the government collects in taxes. Our Editorial Board is not very optimistic that any meaningful long-term fix to the country’s growing debt problem will be implemented within the next few weeks (but maybe we will be pleasantly surprised for a change).

Last month, we talked about the growth of the Entitlement State and the need to re-establish a Self-Reliant Society. These terms come from a book by Don Watkins, who is an author, columnist and professional speaker. The title of his book is RooseveltCare, and the subtitle is How Social Security is Sabotaging the Land of Self-Reliance. Mr. Watkins makes a compelling case for eliminating all entitlement programs, starting with Social Security. However, he acknowledges that accomplishing this goal is probably not politically possible, because according to a 2011 national poll, eight out of ten Americans responded that “Social Security has been good for the country”. However, keep in mind that this result is primarily due to the fact that politicians have bribed us – – not with our own money, but with the money of future generations.

RooseveltCare does not include any graphs or complicated accounting concepts. It merely tells the story of the role that Social Security and other entitlement programs have played in eroding the eagerness, energy, and optimism that once defined our country. Mr. Watkins makes the case that the Entitlement State is robbing his daughter’s generation of many of her hopes and dreams. One of his most pointed assertions is “I am not my grandfather’s keeper”. Flipping this around, our Editorial Board believes that more than eight out of ten people would be appalled by the thought of stealing money from our children and grandkids. But in effect, this is exactly what is happening. There is no money in the Social Security Trust Fund (or in the Medicare Trust Fund). The only “assets” in the Trusts are “intergenerational wealth transfer arrangements” (i.e., US debt). Every dollar that is spent today to provide these benefits comes directly from current employees’ paychecks. Each year, the shortfall between these cash outflows and the payroll taxes collected by the government is simply added to the country’s growing debt problem. And the amounts are projected to worsen each year because the number of active employees supporting the Baby Boom generation is now down to less than three workers for each retiree.

We will provide excerpts from Mr. Watkins’ book in next month’s newsletter. In the meantime, please note that RooseveltCare is available in PDF format over the internet. Mr. Watkins is providing this book for “free” (truly) because he feels that the current Entitlement State is unsustainable, and it is time for the country – its citizens and politicians – to finally address the reality that Social Security is a financial black hole, and begin to make the necessary changes.

US Debt Clock – – February 1st – $56,533 per citizen / March 1st – $56,615

E-Newsletter No. 14
February 2015
If not us, who?______If not now, when?

Our Editorial Board recently ran across an interesting article. For the past several months, consumer debt has been increasing, as American households have become somewhat more confident about the state of the economy. The consumer debt amount that was reported in the article excludes real estate loans, which is probably appropriate, because that type of debt is backed by the associated asset being financed. Consumer debt includes credit card debt, auto loans, student loans, etc, and represents the personal decisions made by American families. This amount has recently risen to a “record level” of $3.3 trillion. Now… contrast that “record” amount with the $18 trillion that has been borrowed on our collective behalf by our elected officials.

So, how did we get to this $18 trillion record amount? As we noted last month, and as shown in the table below, the growth in the US debt represents a collective failure of both the legislative branch and the executive branch, and by the politicians in both political parties –

Jimmy Carter (1976-1980)_________$.6T to $.9T – An increase of $.3 trillion
Ronald Reagan (1980-1988) _______$.9T to $2.6T – An increase of $1.7 trillion
George H.W. Bush (1988-1992)_____$2.6T to $4.1T – An increase of $1.5 trillion
Bill Clinton (1992-2000)_________$4.1T to $5.7T – An increase of $1.6 trillion
George W. Bush (2000-2008)_______$5.7T to $10.0T – An increase of $4.3 trillion
Barack Obama (2008-2015 so far)__$10.0T to $18.0T – An increase of $8.0 trillion (so far)

As we have noted in previous newsletters, the primary driver of the annual deficit and our growing debt problem continues to be the country’s “entitlement” programs. Starting with FDR’s Social Security initiative during the 1930s, the executive branch has played a significant role in transforming the country into what has been termed an “Entitlement State”. Additional entitlement programs were established during the 1960s by LBJ’s Great Society initiative and the War on Poverty, which brought us Medicare / Medicaid and a number of new welfare programs. The Entitlement State has grown even larger in recent years with the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), and during the president’s most recent State of the Union speech, he proposed that we should establish even more entitlement programs, such as “free” college education.

It should be noted that the US House of Representatives and US Senate are also partly to blame, because our elected representatives are responsible for approving and funding these programs. Our country’s financial future has been put at risk by politicians who want to continue to provide generous gifts from the public treasury.

Our Foundation’s objective is to promote personal responsibility (rather than a constantly expanding set of costly government programs). Our primary agenda item is to re-establish fiscal responsibility by the federal government. We seek to (significantly) reduce the size of the Entitlement State, and re-establish a Self-Reliant Society. Because career politicians have found out that they can stay in office by pandering to special interest groups, and by bribing the citizenry with their own money (and with future generations’ money), our Editorial Board believes that one of the best ways to re-establish fiscal responsibility is to implement Term Limits for members of the US House of Representatives and US Senate.

US Debt Clock – – January 1st – $56,356 per citizen / February 1st – $56,533