Before I get to today’s topic, there is a presentation regarding Common Core on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at the Fallon Convention Center. There will be people from the Nevada Department of Education as well as nationally recognized opponents to Common Core.
If you have children or grandchildren in Nevada schools or if you are just wondering what Common Core is all about, this presentation is worth your time and it’s free.
Happy New Year. According to the Heritage Foundation, the federal government spent $29,000 per U.S. citizen last year. The spending numbers are reportedly obtained from the Congressional Budget Office and then simply divided by the reported U.S. population. For the average household of four, that is $116,000 per household. If you deduct defense and law enforcement from that at a reported 18 percent of the budget that still leaves $95,000 per household.
Wouldn’t it be cheaper to cut out the middleman and just send everyone a check? Maybe the 46 percent would then have to pay some taxes. My point with this is that spending is still out of control. We now have over $18 trillion in actual debt. If you add in unfunded liabilities, the total is $92.5 trillion. Projected deficit spending with the new “Cromnibus” budget is about $500 billion.
Yet no one in Washington seems to care. House speaker John Boehner, in my opinion, flushed the 2014 election down the commode when he kissed Reid’s rear and pushed the Cromnibus through the House. It took away any chance of the new Congress addressing concerns. The act was especially egregious since out of the last six years we have had two budgets, neither one on time. If passing the 2015 budget was so important why wasn’t it done by October first when the government’s fiscal year starts?
It appears to be business as usual in Washington. Boehner was re-elected speaker but with twice the votes against him as last time in 2012. I expect many of the Republicans to go along with most of the unpopular agenda items such as immigration reform. When will they learn there are voters out there beyond Washington’s borders, like the 60 percent as shown by polls that would like to have someone besides Boehner as speaker.
One of the first items to come forward will probably be the Keystone Pipeline. After numerous delays, I would hope so. The Democrats are still following the party line — with a twist. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is now saying the pipeline will only generate temporary jobs with no real permanent job growth. First, this is the same man who touted the Obama stimulus as real job growth, even though most of those jobs were construction. Second, unlike stimulus, there will be numerous ancillary jobs generated by the pipeline. If it isn’t government, it can’t be good. Sadly, that is the attitude of too many Republicans as well.
We also have a president that can’t seem to acknowledge that any act is terrorism unless it is a white police officer who for any reason finds it necessary to shoot a black male. A shooter who storms into a military base or business shouting “Allahu Akbar” as he fires off rounds is workplace violence. A fatal attack on an embassy is from impromptu riots incited by a YouTube video. They can’t even call the recent Paris shooting a terrorist act even though they proclaimed “We have avenged the Prophet.”
Even our state legislature is prone to party bickering. Witness the moderate arm of the newly-elected Republican majority maneuvering to oust anyone more conservative than they from leadership positions. Is it any wonder politicians get no respect?
Of course, the media is quick to pile on to those feuds. One has to wonder if they are ever going to report the same issues that happen in the Democrat party. Not likely, It will be interesting to see how they report on Obama when he has to deal with the more than 300 bills Harry Reid pigeonholed to cover Obama. I could describe that differently, but this is a family publication.
This is why I intend to do a series of columns on the hypocrisy of Washington D.C., state government, the media and the liberal left. I hope things will slow down some so that other issues do not intervene. Stay tuned and may your New Year be better the old one.
Tom Riggins is an LVN columnist and be reached at news@lahontanvalleynews.com.