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Welfare and warfare are getting to be too much of a good thing. Before long the interest on the national debt will be more than the gross national product, then what? We cannot continue policing the world, giving foreign aid, allowing illegal immigrants to latch on to the welfare gravy train and keep passing the bills on to our children and grandchildren. We should have enough tax in good times to provide a cushion in bad times. Instead, if we have good times, we make sure we increase spending to make sure all of the tax money goes down the drain and run up a deficit for good measure.

Terry, I sympathize with your frustration with the attitude and education of our younger generation, but don't blame educators entirely. Much of the blame rests with parents who seem to expect their children to learn everything from their ABC's to morality and manners from school, and don't bother to teach them anything at home. Then when educators try to actually correct the problem behavior of their child, the parents throw a fit. I am not an educator, and there isn't enough money in the world for me to become a teacher in today's litigious, angry society. I do work with young people through Scouts and church, but this typically means that I am seeing the best and not the worst. When my son was in school, I volunteered regularly, and what I saw was enough to convince me that teaching sometimes deserves hazardous duty pay. But I don't blame the children or the teachers - I blame parents and the courts. My pet peeve was mothers who watched their elementary aged children misbehave right in front of them, and their only reaction (if any) was to say they just couldn't do anything with them. Sorry - this will serve as my rant for the day.

The bigger problem is that we have nincompoops in Congress without the testicular fortitude to tell the truth about the train wreck awaiting us (or, they are too ignorant of basic economics to see it). Bernie Madoff was a rank beginner compared to the Ponzi scheme of Social Security & Medicare -- $100-plus Trillion-with-a-T of unfunded mandates and a "trust fund" that was raided for general operating expenses decades ago. When it comes to buying their way back into power by stealing the people's money to spend on pork and special interests, nothing beats a politician. And BOTH parties have been guilty. And WE have been guilty as well -- asleep at the switch, not paying enough attention, and not voting the self-serving bums out regularly. The debt, the deficit, the unfunded mandates, and the Fed monetizing that debt more every month, is a recipe for horrendous disaster. It's not enough tax receipts (NOT "revenue" which implies they somehow _earned_ it, which they did not), it's too much spending. The Federal government is only supposed to take care of the big-ticket items - defense, border control, international relations - and everything else is to be done at the state, local, and personal level. Out of control spending must STOP, now. The government must live within its' means - just as the rest of us do. And we have to pressure the new Congress to keep their intentions to stop the hemorrhage. Don't now accuse me of not wanting to help the unfortunate. They are one of the prime reasons FOR limiting Federal power. Who has done more to help children stricken with cancer - the NCI (part of NIH) or St. Jude's Hospital? Which one runs more efficiently? Which one's function can be usurped by another outside group IF they get too big/bureaucratic/inefficient to work well -- thereby giving them strong incentive to stay flexible? If you have $100 to give to one of them, where will your $100 do the most good for the most sick kids? According to the government's own charitable giving guidelines, one should refrain from donating to a charity if less than 85% of funds raise go to the charitable purpose. Is there ANY government bureau/organization where as much as 50% of the funds go to the "social support" service? By their own standards they do not deserve funding. I am a libertarian because I believe in individual liberty and the responsibility of individuals to help those in need. One cannot foist those responsibilities off onto government (or have government usurp them) without seeing incredible amounts of waste and fraud and a worsening of the conditions that were supposed to improve. Every iota of power the Feds take, every scrap of personal responsibility they "relieve" us of, hurts every one of us - the poorest and most needy worst of all. They must be reined back to their Constitutional limits. I can be done -- but it took a hundred or more years to deteriorate this far, and it's going to take decades to fix. Is it worth the effort? YES. Because this is still the ONLY nation in the world founded on the principle that power is sovereign in the PEOPLE, and that the government is OUR servant - not the other way around. I bow to NO man, and NO government, now or ever. Enough with the rant; I have 941's, W-2's, and 1099's to prepare. Catherine

People are going to have to cut back on their pie to get out of this mess. Problem is, nobody is willing to.