http://www.thefreemanonline.org/featured/the-depression-youve-never-heard-of-1920-1921/
Sheila Jackson Lee TRUMPS Reality
By Playing “the Race Card”
You may have just heard that Democratic Representative Sheila Jackson Lee has just claimed that the primary reason that President Barack Obama is being challenged on raising the debt ceiling is because of resentment that our bi-racial president is GASP! Black. The purpose of this blog is to answer that charge conclusively and drop a little common sense upon the congresswoman below her notorious “hair tiara.” In a phrase, Ms. Jackson, NO! the actual reason Mr. Obama is being challenged on his present desire to increase the national debt ceiling (he opposed such an increase when George W. Bush requested it) is because the federal government has become a monstrous burden upon the people and because Mr. Obama has rapidly accelerated that trend, period.
Since the United States Constitution was created in 1787 and the Bill of Rights in 1791 (two documents seeking above all to control the size, scope and burdensome interference of government upon the voting citizens’ wallets and lives), except for the Presidential administrations of Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge, the size and onerous nature of the federal government has always expanded and seldom or almost never contracted.
It is worth noting that Harding’s policies which cut back the government spending of Woodrow Wilson’s administration by roughly 50%; eliminated 49% of federal taxes; and paid the national debt down by 30% also turned the 1920-21 Depression under Wilson into the “Invisible Depression” even though it appeared to start off much worse than the far more infamous so-called “Great Depression” begun in October, 1929. That Harding-Coolidge “Depression You NEVER Heard of” holds great lessons to all of us: among other things it lit off the Roaring Twenties, just about the greatest economic boom in the history of the nation.
Government INEFFICIENCY is nothing new. In 1929 Herbert Hoover began to expand the government to undreamed of size. The very next presidential administration, that of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, after promising to cut taxes, cut spending, pay down the national debt and eliminate waste, corruption and abuse in the government . . . not only continued every single one of Hoover’s programs; not only did nothing to manage government waste, corruption and abuse; but added 39 completely new federal agencies and dramatically increased the cost and interference of government.
Today just one new law in 2010, “Obamacare” alone has added 384 brand new federal agencies. Many other new financial agencies; new college loan agencies; and other regulatory agencies have also been added in the last two years while the workforce in existing government agencies has expanded by roughly 9% and the size of government has expanded overall from 16% of the Gross Domestic Product to its present 23.2% of the GDP. It’s long past time to start to get a handle on the federal government.
Runaway government spending and government corruption, abuse and waste are huge problems in their own right but federal government redundancy is perhaps an even greater example of the ugly-side of government interference in our lives . . . not including Obamacare’s unheard of expansions . . . burdensome federal taxes now support 1165 separate agencies to handle the 19 separate areas enumerated below:
A. A. 342 economic development programs;
- 130 programs serving the disabled;
- 130 programs serving at-risk youth;
- 90 early childhood development programs;
- 75 programs funding international education, cultural, and training exchange activities;
- 72 federal programs dedicated to assuring safe water;
- 50 homeless assistance programs;
- 45 federal agencies conducting federal criminal investigations;
- 40 separate employment and training programs;
- 28 rural development programs;
- 27 teen pregnancy programs;
- 26 small, extraneous K-12 school grant programs;
- 23 agencies providing aid to the former Soviet republics;
- 19 programs fighting substance abuse;
- 17 rural water and waste-water programs in eight agencies;
- 17 trade agencies monitoring 400 international trade agreements;
- 12 food safety agencies;
- 11 principal statistics agencies; and
- Four overlapping land management agencies.
Eliminating 100% of all redundancy is probably an impossible goal. Some overlap is inevitable because some agencies are defined by whom they serve (e.g., veterans, Native Americans, urbanites, and rural families), while others are defined by what they provide (e.g., housing, education, health care, and economic development). If we were to make obvious eliminations of duplicative programs and services the list might, for example, look something like this:
A. 6 economic development programs
B. 3 programs serving the disabled
C. 3 programs serving at-risk youth
D. 3 early childhood development programs
E. 6 programs funding international education, cultural, and training exchange activities
F. 3 federal programs dedicated to assuring safe water;
G. 3 homeless assistance programs
H. 3 federal agencies conducting federal criminal investigations
I. 3 separate employment and training programs
J. 1 rural development program
K. 1 teen pregnancy program
L. 1 K-12 school grant program
M. 1 programs fighting substance abuse
N. 2 rural water and waste-water programs in one agency
O. 5 trade agencies monitoring 400 international trade agreements
P. 2 food safety agencies
Q. 1 principal statistics agencies and
R. 1 land management agency
S. ZERO agencies providing aid to the former Soviet republics and Rajjpuut would recommend elimination of at least 90% of all foreign aid until such a time that our own house is in order . . . . PROPOSED NEW AGENCIES:
T. 1 agency working hand-in-hand with the House and Senate Oversight committees and federal criminal investigations and dealing with FRAUD by recipients etc.
U. 1 agency working hand-in-hand with the House and Senate Oversight committees and federal criminal investigations and dealing with ABUSE by recipients, and government agencies
V. 1 agency working hand-in-hand with the House and Senate Oversight committees and federal criminal investigations and dealing with CORRUPTION by government officials and agencies
W. 1 agency working hand-in-hand with the House and Senate Oversight committees and federal criminal investigations and dealing with undesirable duplication of effort and coverage among government agencies.
X. 1 agency that oversees NEW AGENCIES T, U, V, and W; manages supply and logistical concerns; and serves as the taxpayer’s and Congresses Efficiency Watchdog.
Since elimination of repetitive programs and consolidation of duplicative agencies saves money and improves government service; and since many of the programs now in force should be eliminated entirely . . . Congress should set about consolidating wherever possible and desirable. This simple and obvious plan would eliminate 1112 existing federal agencies and consolidate them into 48 government programs while adding five brand new oversight agencies to manage these programs.
Ya’all live long, strong and ornery,
Rajjpuut
** IF the reader believes this blog holds important information of the sort our elected officials and presidential candidates ought to be aware of and ought to use for the nation’s benefit, Rajjpuut would be pleased if you would forward the link immediately below to their attention. Thanks!
http://rajjpuutsfolly.blogtownhall.com/2011/07/16/redundancy_upon_redundancy_atop_redundancy**.thtml
NOTE: this link above is to Rajjpuut's Folly the Townhall.com blog/. You could also send this teapartyorg.ning.com/ link you're reading as well. Thank you.
Other important but brief links:
