Please realize that when the government spends money, it comes from the American taxpayers. They are spending OUR money. As citizens of this country, we not only have a right to demand responsible spending, it is our duty. We the People ARE the government; those folks in Washington are simply representatives who are supposed to work for us.
I don't understand the intricacies of the federal budget or the "house of cards" economy, but some financial basics apply to government spending the same as they do to household spending. The principle of not having more going out than coming in is a good example.
As of this morning, the Senate has passed a bill to provide hundreds of billions of dollars to bail out Wall Street. Like anyone responsible for a household budget, I think that something else is going to have to give. This money (or much of it) could come from other areas of the budget instead of raising taxes on already overburdened taxpayers.
So let's see where we're spending, shall we?
Right at the top is financing the "War on Terror". This includes both Iraq and Afghanistan. With enactment of the FY2008 Supplemental and FY2009 Bridge Fund(H.R. 2642/P.L. 110-252) on June 30, 2008, Congress has approved a total of about $859 billion for military operations, base security, reconstruction, foreign aid, embassy costs, and veterans’ health care for the three operations initiated since the 9/11 attacks.
Don't get me wrong. I fully support our troops, and I certainly don't advocate cutting spending that impacts their safety. But we were told, among other lies, that Iraqi oil was going to pay for this war. Now we see our own economy in real trouble, and the Iraqi government has billions in recent oil revenue surplus, much of which also came from us paying the highest oil prices in history. The American people should not be gouged at all, let alone twice, particularly at a time when oil companies are reporting record profits. Now that Iraq has gotten its oil production and exports back online, they should take over the cost of reconstruction at the very least.
According to Senator Joe Biden during tonight's VP debate, we've spent more in Iraq in 3 weeks than in Afghanistan since 2001. Recent reports are that Al Queda is rebuilding their stronghold there, bolstered by support from Pakistan. Considering the facts that these are the terrorists behind the 9/11 attacks and Osama Bin Laden is still at large, we should move troops out of Iraq and into Afghanistan as soon as feasible. There's no doubt in my mind that the repercussions of the Bush Doctrine will require our military presence in that region for quite some time, which will cost taxpayers even more.
Next is the "War on Drugs". The mainstream media conveniently forgets that we are currently financing three failing wars, not just two. Check the War on Drugs Clock to see money spent on the War on Drugs this year.
So how about we stop funding DEA raids on the sick and dying? Yearly since 2003, Rep. Hinchey has offered an amendment to the federal appropriations bills that would prohibit the DEA from spending taxpayer money to raid, arrest, or prosecute medical marijuana users or their caregivers in the 12 states that have legalized medical marijuana, but it has never passed.
While we're at it, why not legalize cannabis altogether? Not only would eliminating the enormous cost of arresting, prosecuting, and incarcerating thousands relieve some of our financial distress, it would open the way for an economic boom that's as GREEN as it gets. There are 2 sides to that shiny coin: marijuana regulation and industrial hemp.
If marijuana were regulated in the same manner as tobacco or alcohol, for instance, the tax revenues from its sale could turn the huge loss into a profit. I'm not the first to suggest this; in June 2005, notable economist Milton Friedman and over 500 of his colleagues wrote An Open Letter to the President, Congress, Governors, and State Legislatures projecting $10-$14 billion annually in savings and revenue from legalization of cannabis.
Legalization could provide thousands of new jobs, from farms to transportation to advertising to sales. Marijuana prohibition takes valuable resources away from law enforcement that could be used much more productively to pursue other more serious criminals. The arrest and prosecution of 734,000 people on marijuana charges, almost 90% of which are for possession alone, costs taxpayers between $7.5 billion and $10 billion annually (NORML Report on Sixty Years of Marijuana Prohibition in the U.S.). More people are arrested on marijuana charges each year than for all violent crimes combined (Federal Bureau of Investigation table 29). It just makes more sense financially, particularly in rough economic times such as these, to abandon this failed prohibition policy.
Industrial hemp (by definition, industrial hemp refers to those strains of cannabis sativa l. containing less than 1 percent THC, a psychoactive compound) could help solve a number of issues. Nearly every country in the world has legalized hemp production––the United States is a rare exception, with more than $6 million in imports annually. Incredibly, hemp is the only crop that is legal for Americans to import yet illegal to grow. David Bronner, President of both the Hemp Industries Association (HIA) and Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps, says, "Industrial hemp is about sustainable agriculture that saves our forests, reduces use of agricultural chemicals, and cuts carbon emissions by replacing petroleum-based products like fiberglass in insulation and natural fiber composites." Renewable, fast-growing hemp could allow major industries to reduce their dependence on nonrenewable, fast-disappearing resources and move toward sustainable production. Hemp fiber offers greater durability and breathability than cotton, which accounts for 25 percent of the pesticides sprayed on the world's crops.
The most successful emerging industrial use of hemp fiber is in the automobile industry. "Biocomposites" of nonwoven hemp matting and polypropylene or epoxy are pressed into parts such as door panels and luggage racks, replacing heavier and less safe fiberglass composites. European hemp fiber made into biocomposites by Flexform in Indiana has been used in more than a million cars and trucks in North America. Automotive applications alone are expected to push European hemp cultivation to over 100,000 acres by 2010. Emerging technology for injection molding of natural fibers is expected to accelerate growth of this sector.
Hemp grown for both seed and biomass has a stalk yield of up to 3.5 tons per acre, which would make it an economical source of cellulose for ethanol production. Farmers in the Midwest could welcome hemp as a profitable addition to their marginally profitable soybean and corn rotations.
Hemp oil contains the most EFAs of any nut or seed oil, with the omega-3 and omega-6 EFAs occurring in the nutritionally optimal 1:3 ratio. As a bonus it offers the higher-potency omega derivatives GLA and SDA.
Most industrial hemp facts above were copied from
Hemp is Hip, Hot and Happening So Why Are American Farmers Being Left Out? - Utne, September-October 2004 (Vote Hemp)
So my suggestion is for our government to rein in spending by ending the "War on (some) Drugs" and taking the "War on Terror" to the terrorists in Afghanistan. I'm sure that there are many other ways that spending could be cut, such as cutting the heavy subsidization of corn crops. I'll leave that to others more educated on those subjects. After all, this is just my opinion.
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