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Who's Your Daddy?

For millions of folks, the federal government is now their sugar daddy. According to The Wall Street Journal, 47 percent of people in this country, both citizens and non-citizens, are receiving one or more federal benefits payments. That is the highest entitlement percentage in U.S. history.

And that's just the way some in the Democratic Party want it. Get the folks hooked on government benefits, and you'll have their votes for life because those mean Republicans are so full of self-reliance that they'll always oppose federal largesse.

From 2007 to 2010, the Democratic-controlled Congress added $5.3 trillion to America's already astronomical debt — a record spending spree over a three-year period of time. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid led the wild ride, with Presidents Bush and Obama signing off on the binge.

Now, the USA is approaching bankruptcy, and the Democrats still don't want to rein in spending. They fight cuts every step of the way, offering up phony "take the rich" mantras to deceive the voting public into believing that increasing revenue will dig America out of its well of red ink.

Liberal Americans like to think of themselves as compassionate, championing a vast flow of public money to those who have not. But what is compassionate about wrecking an entire economy?

America's economic status was downgraded because our government has failed to deal aggressively with deficit spending. The dollar is being hammered because confidence in it is flagging all over the world.

While countries like Switzerland and Germany retain healthy balance sheets, the USA is following the philosophy of Zorba the Greek: dancing all day long rather than confronting the reality of irresponsible behavior.

Simply put: The federal government cannot continue fiddling while the economy burns. It must begin implementing aggressive spending cuts across the board.

If that were to happen, we finally could look at revenue enhancement in a fair and effective way.

But it's a lot easier to trot out Warren Buffett in the role of the ancient mariner. My secretary pays more income tax than I do, he whines. Well, Warren, you could write a monstrous check to the Treasury anytime you wish in order to right that wrong. But demanding the feds raise the capital gains tax will assure a long winter for the stock market. Would it not?

President Obama will not win re-election on the class warfare ticket, but it seems he is determined to try. By all means, close up loopholes that allow corporations like General Electric to avoid paying taxes. Yes, dial back lavish deductions that fat cats use to dodge responsible tax payment. But let's knock off the "fair share" myth, OK? Affluent Americans have been paying a disproportionate amount of income tax for decades, and still the nation remains deeply in debt.

Punishing achievement is not the road to fiscal solvency, Mr. President. Just ask the Swiss.

Veteran TV news anchor Bill O'Reilly is host of the Fox News show "The O'Reilly Factor" and author of the book "Pinheads and Patriots: Where You Stand in the Age of Obama." To find out more about Bill O'Reilly, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com. This column originates on the website www.billoreilly.com.

DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS.COM

Comments

6 Comments | Post Comment

Are you saying we should be more like Germany? They are far more socialistic than we are with all kinds of state-financed benefits, including healthcare. Why don't you go to your tea party friends and propose a German style platform? Put your money where your empty rhetoric is.

Comment: #1
Posted by: Masako
Sat Sep 24, 2011 9:38 AM

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Give me a good job like I had up till May of 2008 and I'll gladly give up the government benefits that have kept my wife and I alive and out of abject poverty. We don't like getting health and nutrition assistance but without it our diet would be meagre and my wife would be dead from cancer. Conservatives are big on their ideological words but I can't live on words. My savings and retirement money are all gone thanks to the great recession. What do you have to say to that Mr. big shot phoney conservative?

Comment: #2
Posted by: Steve
Sat Sep 24, 2011 10:51 PM

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Re: Masako

Yes it is true that Germany has a more socialist type of government but it is not financed by taking from the haves and giving it to the have-nots like we always seem to want to do in America. I lived for five years in Europe and traveled to many of the EU nations. It is true they have nationalized healthcare and large social programs to pay for the folks who are chronically on the dole. But it is equally true that depending on which nation there is a minimum national sales tax on all items for purchase called the VAT, the rate starts at around 17.5% and goes up from there. The working classes pay a minimum of a third of their gross income into income taxes. That is for the lowest earners and goes up exponentially as income increases. They also pay a separate tax into their respective national health systems. In the United Kingdom most homes don't have wind screens in them; there is a separate tax for each wind screen. Some of the oldest have lots of windows bricked over; there used to be a tax for each window. Most homes only have one T.V. that is capable of receiving an outside signal for tv and/or cable programming; you guessed it their is an annual TV tax. There is also a mandatory annual vehicle inspection and road tax to pay if the vehicle passes inspection. If not pay for expensive repairs and then for another vehicle inspection and road tax. This all works because all citizens across the board are paying a lot heavier tax burden than the American taxpayer. So before you think it is all socialist niceties in Germany learn a little about how they can afford it. Also European Nations all have averaged double digit unemployment rates for decades. We need to all pay into the system to get us out of this mess because we all benefited from lower taxes over the last decade. To be quite blunt about it there just are not enough rich folks to pay for everything everyone thinks they are entitled to and put a dent in paying down the national debt.

Comment: #3
Posted by: Paula
Sun Sep 25, 2011 7:49 AM

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You left off who ran up the other 9 trillion in debt Bill.Lets not have anymore TARP bailouts for the "self reliant" Wall Streeters either Bill.By the way,some of the 5.2 trillion deficit you cite for Dems was Obama putting the useless,unnecessary wars you Republicans started and didnt finish on the budget.If your going to start something perhaps you would have guts enough to finish it.At least pay for it,not red ink it..Fair and Balanced Bill? What a hypocrit.

Comment: #4
Posted by: WILLIAM KELLEY
Sun Sep 25, 2011 7:25 PM

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Republicans need to stop pretending that the rich have some great virtue (self-reliance?) that the rest of us, by which I mean the non-rich, lack. The vast majority of people who are able are working hard. And government assistance will barely keep you above the poverty line, so let's quit with the "sugar daddy," while we're at it. The rich folks got that way, in no small part, by using programs that help them keep more of the money they made than many at lower income brackets. They got that way by running corporations, some of which pay NO taxes, so that income can be disbursed as insane salaries and bonuses. That may be fine, but let's not pretend that the ability to game the system is a quality to be admired and emulated by all, or one that somehow makes them more "worthy" than the lower 95%.

The other thing you're missing, Bill, is that Democrats, by and large, have been very amenable to spending cuts, in combination with increased revenue. If you acknowledge (and most of the American people do, I believe) that increased revenue alone won't fix the problem, then how can you argue that spending cuts alone will be effective?

Comment: #5
Posted by: Laura
Mon Sep 26, 2011 1:48 AM

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I have a grandson marine that stepped on an IED in afganastan terrible damage to his foot. The doctor he was assigned had him released from hospital two days before he needed to be released so he cannot collect money for the injury. He took injury to his back and lost a great deal of his hearing. When he has filed paperwork to receive money for the injuries said to be $75,000. They show hostility and direct him for syc examination. The Wounded Warrier program which you give to and Semper Fi have been a great benefit to him and his wife who is expecting their first child. I wonder if other soldiers are going through the same kind of treatment. He was assigned treatment that has rendered his foot unusable. And all contacts go back to the orginal examing doctor and can not be changed unless he changes his statements. I feel the youngster did what he thought to be the American thing to do by enlisting and has been failed by the system. I am sorry he has been treated this way. Thanks for the time you have given to this. The marine is Corpoal Jared Ray Smith he is on base in San Diego CA

Comment: #6
Posted by: Jeral Lipps
Mon Sep 26, 2011 6:40 PM

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