From the Porch
The time is now
Dwight Otwell

The time to get federal spending and the budget under control is now.

The longer we wait to make hard decisions, the bigger the monster of out-of-control federal finances becomes.

Presidential candidates are crawling out of every political burg in the country. I am not even close to deciding who I will vote for in the 2008 election.

However, maybe we need an accountant or auditor to step forward. Maybe we need someone who is willing to face the displeasure of the voters and special interest groups when he makes decisions they don't like. Every President of the United States, every chief executive of any company, every boss of anyone will receive criticism at some point. It seems to be human nature to gripe about those who are in authority. That's not all bad. But the leader has to be able to withstand it.

Don't waste time running for office if you don't have the courage to do something to shore up Social Security, to get Medicare spending under control and to provide a way for health care to be attainable - even if you have to cut spending and/or raise taxes.

Social Security is an example of an issue which politicians are avoiding. They all say something needs to be done, as some experts say that as early as 2018, the system is set to pay out more in benefits than it collects in taxes and by 2042 the money stored up from past surpluses will be exhausted and Social Security will only be able to pay 73 percent of promised benefits from the revenues it will be taking in.

The political fallout is too hard for Washington politicians to face. So they do nothing. Every day they delay, the problem becomes harder to fix. One idea is to make wealthier Americans pay their fair share of Social Security taxes. Most Americans must pay Social Security taxes on all of their income. But only the first $90,000 of what a worker earns is subject to Social Security taxes. If all of everyone's wages were taxed, it could prop up Social Security for a long time. But Washington politicians are afraid of offending big money.

I'm not saying that is the only way to correct the problem. But we have to be willing to consider a number of ways to get our economic house in order.

Local governments in North Carolina are required by law to have a balanced budget. Our county has many needs. It is up to the county commissioners to decide if they are willing to increase taxes to achieve those needs. If the commissioners increase taxes, they must show that the money is needed. They must also show that they aren't wasting taxpayers' money.

The federal budget is so gigantic and there are so many departments and bureaus and employees that it is hard to even consider. But a team of good auditors could do the job.

We, as citizens, could also help. We think of federal grants as free money. But thousands of federal grants going all over the country add up to a load of money. Pork barrel spending should be brought under control. Federal wages and benefits are the best in the country. If it seems impossible to cut wages and benefits for federal workers to levels closer to what most Americans have, then stop increasing wages and benefits, at least for a period of time.

These are just ideas and many people have better ideas. It's time politicians, especially presidential candidates, listen to these ideas, choose the best and push them as a political agenda. It's time for members of each major political party to stop opposing good ideas just because they come from the other party. For our future generations, we need to work together, even if it is painful, to bring some order out of the chaos of the federal budget.