RSSPerotCharts.com Press Release
Ross Perot Launches Public Information Website
About U.S. Economic Crisis
PerotCharts.com Illustrates that We Are Running Out Of Time to Stop Deficit Spending
DALLAS, TEXAS – JUNE 16, 2008 /PRNewswire/—Ross Perot, business leader and former presidential candidate, announced today the launch of “PerotCharts.com,” a public information website that contains objective, factual information about the current economic crisis in America. The site is being launched as an alert and appeal for American citizens to inform themselves about federal government spending. Perot said, “The U.S. national debt reached $9.4 TRILLION on April 30, and it is increasing by more than $1 billion every day. We are leaving our children and grandchildren with debt they cannot possibly pay.”
PerotCharts.com consists of three major components: a video featuring Ross Perot discussing the purpose of the website, a blog where new charts and other information are posted daily for study and comment, and a narrated chart presentation explaining the economic problems our country faces.
The website is not affiliated with any political party or candidate. Most of the data and research for the charts is gathered from official government sources.
“The economic crisis facing America today is far greater than anything since the Great Depression,” said Perot. “Our federal government continues to spend us deeper into debt. The American people must get directly involved and demand an end to deficit spending. This website will provide information for citizens to do just that.”
Like the economic charts Perot employed in his 1992 and 1996 presidential campaigns, which served as snapshots of complex economic issues presented in simple terms, PerotCharts.com features the latest official government figures about the real conditions of our economy for everyone to see and consider. The site is designed to be a reservoir of information about the economy, and provides an accurate look at where the money comes from and where it goes.
David Walker, former U.S. Comptroller General and current president and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation said, “Ross Perot is the father of fiscal charts, and PerotCharts.com will help Americans understand the serious fiscal challenges facing our nation. These updated economic charts will also serve to hold elected officials accountable while accelerating needed actions to help ensure that our collective future will be better than our past. What we need now is leadership from our elected officials.”
Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives said, “Ross Perot is exactly right to echo Winston Churchill’s famous cry for ‘action this day’ to rally the nation to reform our entitlement programs, end deficit spending, and balance the federal budget. PerotCharts.com contains information every citizen needs to know so we can demand real change to get the nation on the right track.
David L. Boren, former U.S. Senator and governor of Oklahoma and current president of the University of Oklahoma said, “The facts speak for themselves in Ross Perot’s powerful website for all Americans. Runaway spending and a rising national debt will destroy America’s future as a great nation. As more of our debt is held by those in other countries, our political independence is put at risk by our economic dependency. We must act now!
“We simply cannot wait any longer to do something about runaway deficit spending,” Perot said. “This website addresses a number of issues, and we will add more in the coming weeks and months. But there is a common thread running through all of them. We cannot solve these problems unless we have the ability to pay for the solutions. Getting spending under control is the first step in that process.”
For more information, visit PerotCharts.com.
96 Responses to “PerotCharts.com Press Release”
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June 16th, 2008 at 9:10 am
Ross: Excellent presentation. The lack of a true, solid financial plan from either candidate thus far is disheartening. I guess, considering our “spend now, worry about it later” consumer culture are the same people voting for our President, we’re not going to see it anytime soon.
June 16th, 2008 at 9:26 am
Please add a balance of payments chart. One way we can increase our nation’s income is by improving our monthly balance or payments numbers. But what is the potential?
June 16th, 2008 at 10:02 am
I voted for you back in the ’90s. Everything you said would happen, has happened. I do not think we have long to straighten this mess out. It maybe as early as this Fall when the wheels fly off the economy. Somebody has to start listening and soon!
June 16th, 2008 at 10:31 am
Interesting, but why did you wait until now? These indicators have been there for years.
June 16th, 2008 at 10:32 am
I am so glad to see you back! Have an impact, or at least get people talking.
I worry about the deficit, but maybe we need to start looking around us too. Our schools are not educating our children well or preparing them for the future. Our technical jobs are going to cheaper venues elsewhere – and our innovation ability is what made this country great. Health costs eat a huge portion of people’s budgets, and property taxes no longer cover so many basic services. The deficit spending has to stop, but so does all of the political “payback” and “payoffs” that result in huge bureaucracies that clog every “public” office. Teachers get laid off while administrators get payback jobs.
Across the entire public sector everything needs to be reviewed with an eye toward efficiency and streamlining. You made your living aiding companies – rally the grassroots troops and let’s go now. Make our tax dollars worth something, make government stop wasting money and mortgaging our children’s futures — especially since these children have fewer professional opportunities – we keep sending them elsewhere in the world. America was born from bright minds and extreme innovators – not politcal pork projects and government waste. We became a nation to have our say in where our money was spent. So let’s have our say and begin to fix it.
June 16th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Bravo Mr. Perot!!!
Bravo !!!!!!!!!!!!!
June 16th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
Great- finally a site where average Americans can express their frustration with government fiscal irresponsibility, and hopefully help do something about it. I look forward to reading everyone’s comments!
Jack
June 16th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
I came across campaign signs for Ross Perot in my basement just last week and I was wondering what ever happened to Mr. perot and wishing he had stayed in the race and won the first time. If he had, our country would not be in this precarious position. I’m glad to see you are still fighting the good fight Mr. Perot.
June 16th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
Congratulations on the launch of the site.
I fear, judging by the number of comments, that the political will just isn’t there.
Sincerely,
Adrian Burridge
CanadianInvestors.com
June 16th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
Hi Ross Perot,
Re. your wonderful efforts, I reckon: here is how to win.
First is short-term ‘cleaning’ — get these four ongoing extremes in the public’s face, and keep them there: Real Dow & Real Homes & Personal Saving & Debt Burden
Then, with these current truths ‘cleaningly apparent’, the public’s rationality figures to be greatly enhanced for the longer term severe challenges …
June 16th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
Fantastic Information ! I was commenting to my wife just last week that it appears that the candidates have jumped right into the “we must increase taxes” message. What I didn’t hear was how we were going to reduce spending first. Based on the information you have provided here, it will be interesting to see if the national media picks up on your most excellent and informative website. You have taken a very complicated tax and spend system and put it into numbers and charts that an educated person can use to get a true view of the current US financial situation.
I also worked on the Perot campaign years ago when I was fresh out of College. It’s no surprise to me to see something of this quality produced by the Perot team. Also no surprise that the predictions you made have been almost 100% accurate.
Thanks to you and your team on this excellent website.
-Doug
June 16th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
Thank you for spreading the word!
Christopher E. Hill
Editor
Boom2Bust.com
“The Most Hated Blog On Wall Street”
June 16th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
Thank you Ross for such a great site. You’re a great American who brought attention to important issues. I hope one of our candidates, Obama or McCain pick up on these issues. I also hope people are reminded that you did NOT elect Clinton. Exit polls showed you taking equally, 38 percent from each candidate, and when you were gone from the race from July-October, Clinton was winning in a landslide in all the polls. This makes sense as you were against NAFTA, which both parties embraced, and were for gay rights and pro-choice, being truly against government intervention. Please bring these points to light when you’re on TV again, as both the GOP and the Daily Kos believe the lie of you as a “spoiler.”
June 16th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
Welcome back Mr. Perot
I will do the I told you so for you because, I am sure you are not a finger pointer. As an old Union guy , I voted for you because we seemed to both see the future.
As I watched the Prime Minister of England praise Bush for the jobs he sent to Ireland I thought back then of your warning. I think we are too late to do anything about globalization. They make it sound so good. “We will end poverty around the world” I BELIEVE THEY WILL UNLEASH THE GREED OF CAPITALISM ON AN OVERPOPULATED WORLD. We cannot cut down every tree in the rain forest to feed greed, or destroy every wetland with dams in the name of electrical power and malaria.
Please, Please use this forum to point fingers. Someday someone may actuallly have to pay for the destruction of America and we want to make sure we have the right criminals.
Thanks, the forum for average folks to vent. Folks who feel they have no say in their government.
June 16th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
The charts are not only informative, but easy to understand. Three cheers to Mr. Perot, a true American hero. We all need to read these charts and get active. By seeing this econmomy in a clear precise work that once again, Mr.Perot has done, we can organize and go forward. Anybody with me? City by city, county by county this message needs to reach America, I challenge each college student to organize with me.
June 16th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
We loved you in the 90′s and we love you now. Everything thing you said in your book has happened! I can’t understand why American people just don’t get it. Keep up the wonderful work.
June 16th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
I am so happy to see you back, Ross. I feared the government silenced you or something. I believe our government is corrupt and is to be feared. They care nothing about the working class of America which is another reason we have so many illegals working here – to keep wages down and health benefits for working Americans exempt. I would like very much to see a solution to this problem. People think the American people are weak, but when push comes to shove and families are not able to feed their children or have the means to get to their jobs, I think we will see a civil war break out in our lifetime here. Our government talks about the chats they pick up from around the world (Iraq, Iran, etc.) but they are ignoring the chats going on right here at home. People are fed up! The media glorifies Ronald Reagan but in my opinion he’s the one who started this mess with his reagonomics in which nothing trickled down and nothing is trickling down now either. Thank you for this website and for giving me a chance to vent for millions of other working class Americans.
- Sue
June 16th, 2008 at 8:49 pm
Thank you Ross Perot. We need your leadership to help steer our great country back on a positive course forward. It is so challenging to raise a family today because the future is full of uncertainty and we are lacking the leadership to help us navigate these difficult waters. I hope to hear from you more frequently and at depth as to how we can work together for a brighter future and stronger nation. In addition, I hope that you can talk about the effects of NAFTA and other trade agreements on our economy as you did in the past but with the benefit of hind sight.
Sincerely,
Robert
June 16th, 2008 at 9:03 pm
Thank you so much for setting up this new site. I was always impressed with the charts — facts, not just promises easily broken like all the other candidates. And that’s only one reason I was and am a Ross Perot voter and believer. He definitely is a leader, unlike our choices for President this time, and contributes to this the greatest country in the world.
And Adrian Burridge, believe me, the political will is there — and getting stronger each day!
Again, thank you guys, and we’ll spread the word.
Jim from Texas
June 16th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
Thank you for taking the time to create this site. Hopefully, others will see it and learn from it. I hope your presence will make a difference in the upcoming election.
June 16th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
Thank you, Mr. Perot and team for putting together this excellent presentation on the problem that We the People face having allowed our federal elected officials to become political elites who have created a system in Washington, D.C. that benefits them and their cronies at the expense of the common man, woman, child, and our country’s great entrepreneurial businesspeople. Meanwhile, these political elites hypocritically talk like populists on TV and in newspapers to distract common Americans from what is really going on.
Speaking of U.S. Dollars, I was disappointed that PerotCharts.com does not also show a chart of the dramatic fall in value of the U.S. Dollar from 1945 to today. In 1945, the Bretton Woods agreement among the major allies set a hard and fast value for the U.S. Dollar of 1/35ths of an ounce of gold. As a result, inflation remained well-contained until the late 1960s when our friends in Washington incurred large deficits to fund the Vietnam war. These deficits began to concern Europeans and others holding trade dollars, who started redeeming their U.S. Dollars for the gold each dollar was worth. The elites in Washington wanted to print more money, however, to fund the war and Johnson’s expansion of the benefits in the federal entitlement programs. Yet, the elites were challenged to do so with the Fed’s gold reserves depleting at an alarming rate due to redemptions. By 1970, the dollar was losing ground against the 1/35ths ounce of gold peg. Finally, on August 15, 1971 President Richard M. Nixon shocked the world and took the U.S. Dollar — and in turn all the global currencies pegged to the dollar — off the gold standard inherent to the Bretton Woods agreement. Now witness the value of a U.S. Dollar in 2008: nearly 1/900ths of an ounce of gold (just look up the US$ price of an ounce of gold to confirm). What has also happened during the time period from 1971 to today? Printing of U.S. Dollars without constraint. An increasing supply of ‘goldless’ dollars has beget more recessions, booms, busts, inflation, deflation, government debts, personal debts, and growth in the size of the federal government than you can shake a stick at. Meanwhile, Greenspan and Bernanke and the Board of Governors at the Federal Reserve repeatedly make an exercise of futility out of playing around with interest rates and cash windows to centrally plan the U.S. economy when a stable dollar and the free markets could handle it all so much more effectively and efficiently. Want to know what the price of oil is so high today? Read my article at http://www.PowerWealth.com that shows how the federal government’s wanton destruction of the U.S. Dollar since the “Nixon Shock” — and especially during the heightened spending by the federal government after 9/11 on Homeland Security and the Iraq and Afghanistan wars — is the primary culprit behind the recent run up in the price of oil. Oil costs much more now because the dollar has weakened dramatically from its long-held peg at 1/35ths of an ounce of gold. Today, it simply takes many more increasingly worthless dollars to buy one increasingly demanded barrel of oil.
Logan Flatt, CFA
http://www.PowerWealth.com
Dallas, TX USA
June 16th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
It’s very, very simple. Ross’s excellent charts tell the full story.
We cannot cut taxes and increase [military] spending and expect the economics of our country not to suffer. This is a tall tale that the Republicans like to tell you. They like to say, “well, the wealthy will take the tax savings and start a business, and employ people.” WRONG. Maybe 50 years ago they did. Now the only jobs they are creating are in China, India, and Mexico (when they are not spending it on luxury items). George Bush ran on cutting spending and cutting taxes–but oops, he forgot the first part. Ronald Reagan started building ray-guns while cutting taxes. He’s the one who really put us behind the 8-ball.
Meanwhile, the Democrats balance the budget by instituting FAIR taxation and cutting spending. “No way!” you scream. “What Democrat ever did that?”
BILL CLINTON DID. See Ross’s charts for proof:
http://perotcharts.com/category/challenges-charts/page/4/
Clinton cut spending–especially welfare (betcha didn’t know that, did ya? Google it and learn, grasshoppers). And he asked the wealthy to pay their fair share. And see the results: that’s called a surplus. Yet, the Dems are crucified for balancing the budget and trying to give you back your children’s future.
It’s not brain surgery, people. Would you quit your own job, cut your family income, and increase your own spending? No, of course you wouldn’t.
Don’t believe the fairy tales you are being told on Fox News. They are destroying our country by broadcasting fake opinion as “fact.”
June 17th, 2008 at 4:54 am
Thanks to Ross Perot and David Walker for presenting this complicated subject in an understandable form. This is another fine mess those Republican voters have gotten us into. If the Republican Party had their way, they would cut all taxes and somehow the federal debt would be paid off. If the Republican Party would get out of the way, we could take care of this problem.
The presentation shows the status quo and what could happen if nothing is done. Fortunately the Democratic Party will take over next year so something will be done. Government paid universal health care like the Taiwanese have will take care of Medicare and Medicaid. See:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/
According to Dr. HONGJEN CHANG, Taiwan spends some 6.23 percent of GDP on health care. America’s GDP is about $14 trillion and spends 16 percent on health care, about $2.24 trillion. If America adopted Taiwan’s Health Care System and spent 8 percent of GDP for universal health care, that is only $1 trillion, less than half. Universal health care is the key to America’s companies and employees staying competitive in the world market.
It is also note worthy that $1 trillion is less than 3 percent of the household net worth over $1 million for every taxpayer. In other words, people with a net worth under $1 million would not pay for universal health care if we taxed net worth over $1 million to pay for it.
Social Security: Remove the cap on employment tax or drop the employment tax and use general funds. And stop this charade about “Social Security Insurance,” it’s a tax, so why don’t the poor deserve as much as the rich? It should be criminal that through capital gains breaks and FICA taxes, we pay more taxes on the money we earn through work than on passive investment income. As THE WALL STREET JOURNAL reported, a recent study found that the top .01% or 14,000 American families hold 22.2% of wealth — the bottom 90%, or over 133 million families, just 4% of the nation’s wealth. “Over the past 30 years, most of the increase in America’s wealth has accrued to those who need it least. In 2003 the top 5% of households took 21.4% of the income, up from 16.6% in 1973. A survey for Time/CNN in 2000 showed that 19% of Americans believed they were in the top 1% of earners.” The 50 top hedge fund managers made $29 billion dollars in 2007. That’s an average of over $500 million dollars each taxed at capital gains of only 15 %.
Rearranging the tax on the middle class is not going to work for the Republican Party this time. They would also replace our current “anti-competitive” corporate income tax. This would remove the incentive to move overseas. At present companies do not have to pay tax on income earned overseas until they bring it back to America, which means they leave it overseas in bank accounts. They also can arrange for countries to build plants for them in exchange for paying taxes to the foreign countries. Foreign tax paid is a one for one write off for American taxes. Therefore, the American taxpayer is subsidizing jobs overseas. Someone has to pay for the federal budget. If we eliminate corporate taxes, household taxes will go up 66.7 %. So we should increase the standard personal deduction and exemption up to $100,000 for each person. That would be fair.
America should adopt a tax system based on net worth for the following reasons.
1. A tax on net worth has the largest tax base. The net worth of this country is larger than the income system, about $9 trillion, and the consumption system, 70 % of the gross domestic product, (GDP) about $14 trillion. The individual household assets of $55 trillion and business assets of about $60 trillion is over 8 times larger than the consumption system.
2. Income is not a measure of being rich, net worth is. The wealthiest 1-percent of households have more assets than the lowest 95%, $18 trillion. Since the total individual assets are $55 trillion. The wealthiest 5 % own about 67% of the individual net worth in the USA. The biggest 1-percent of corporations own 80 % of the business net worth.
3. Taxes should be based on ones ability to pay. A tax on net worth is the fairest tax of all. Net Worth is the measure of ones ability to pay.
4. Taxes on net worth have the lowest percentage. America’s budget is about $3 trillion. A consumption system requires a sales tax of over 30%. A net worth tax would be less than 3%.
5. A tax on net worth is the most versatile. Besides a flat tax of 3% for individuals and businesses, there are other possibilities. Some people say we have double taxation. We could tax only people at 6% or only businesses at 6%. Since businesses can’t vote and they pass there cost on to their customers, that is the best way to go. Next is the progressive path. The first $1 million could be tax-free and increase by 0.1 % for each $1 million up to 5% after $50 million.
6. A tax on net worth is the simplest to file. Take what you own minus what you owe. Our present tax system is 63,000 pages of loopholes. Example: a person leases a car. The lessee does not own the car, so no tax. The leasing company owns the $25,000 car, but has a $10,000 loan. The company is taxed on $15,000. ($25,000 minus $10,000) The loan entity has $10,000 of assets so it pays tax on $10,000.
7. A tax on net worth is the easiest to enforce. Since this is a property rights country, all assets are traceable. Taxing only the most prosperous 10 % of businesses and people is the most efficient tax system.
8. Like the consumption tax, all of our present taxes could be replaced, Individual income tax, corporation income tax, employment taxes, gift tax, and estate tax. Plus the excise tax.
9. Guarantees funding for all budget items like social security and Medicare by eliminating use taxes. User fees or tolls are another way for the wealthy and businesses to avoid paying taxes. Budget items come out of general funds.
10. A tax on net worth promotes transparency. When a company shows an annual report with a book value of $1 billion and only $10 million in taxes, they aren’t paying their full taxes.
11. A tax on net worth promotes free trade. Money, inventory, buildings, etc. are all assets so everyone can move assets around for the best effect.
12. Eliminate inflation. Dr. Milton Friedman said to end inflation, stop printing money. By increasing the tax rate 1%, the national debt of $9 trillion could be paid off in 10 years.
13. We start collecting 100 percent of our earnings in every paycheck. We all get virtual raises, since payroll taxes are no longer siphoned from our checks.
14. Reducing taxes on the poorest 90% will raise revenue. When people have more money to spend, they buy more goods, which means more profit for businesses and the wealthiest 10%. Money flows up, water trickles down.
15. A tax on net worth promotes jobs. Employees cost companies less since the employment taxes are repealed and therefore employees become more competitive in the global market.
16. A progressive tax on net worth levels the playing field. Small companies that create the most jobs become more competitive with large companies.
17. A tax on net worth removes some incentive to move plants overseas. Taxes are based on assets no matter where they are located. What you own minus what you owe.
And another thing for those who believe the American over-consumption myth and the fallacy of irresponsible middle-class America as people consumed by appetites for goods they don’t need, and who think little of cost, see Prof. Elizabeth Warren
http://bostonreview.net/BR30.5/warrentyagi.html
http://harvardmagazine.com/2006/01/p-the-middle-class-on-the.html
June 17th, 2008 at 5:28 am
I also voted for you Ross, why is it so few people understand what is really going on in this country and how bad things are. My husband and I got it back then, but only what 22 percent of the population got it and voted for you. People didn’t want to dare vote for someone who wasn’t a demorcrate or republican I guess, but they seem to be the problem rather that the cure.
I am usually a positive person, but HELLO! Some big changes better come soon and I don’t see either candidate doing the right thing. Do you have any suggestions on what indiviuals can do to prepare for the upcoming realities of what could happen in the US if no one in the White House wakes up really soon. Or how we could get directly involved in something that could actually make a difference.
Thanks so much for starting your website!!! I hope it helps!
Donna
June 17th, 2008 at 6:43 am
Dear Mr. Perot,
Thank you for setting up this web site to hold our politicians accountable. Congress must be forbidden to appropriate more money than the federal government receives in revenues. I agree 100% with your findings. We should now work to pass a law that would have our congressmen and women fired if they spend more money than they receive from taxpayers. This type of fiscal incompetence would get you fired as CFO at any company in America, but our politicians are not held accountable, why?
I’ll leave your readers with a quote from Thomas Jefferson, he said, and I quote, “A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor and bread it has earned – this is the sum of good government.” Your web site is an important first step in getting America back on track. You are helping American’s make good government possible again.
Thank you.
Best regards,
Jeff
June 17th, 2008 at 7:07 am
I voted for you! I wish you had of won!
These charts show very clearly what kind of condition this America is in.
If I ran my families’ finances like the Elected Officials run this country I would be bankrupt long ago and out on the streets living under a bridge or someplace like that. America has to wake up and it is not us citizens that are ruining this country by over spending it is out elected officials that are ruining our country by bowing to special interest groups. foreign country asking for money and allowing our jobs to be shipped over seas to China, India, etc. I see no way for this country to get out of this mess except for a total collaspe of the economy and starting over from scratch.
June 17th, 2008 at 7:47 am
I may not be as educated as alot of the posters here. In my opinion, there is several “creative” ways to ensure that whomever is elected into governmental positions are people who trully care about america and look to see ways into how to improve the american way of life, rather than how to improve their own personal way of life.
Take a look at the average earnings in congress for example. http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa031200a.htm
How many people would run for congress, governer, president, etc.. If they earned ZERO. Yes, you heard me correctly. ZERO. Benjamin Franklin suggested the same thing, that government officials “SHOULD NOT” be paid for their services. Though between 1789-1815 members of congress only received per diem while in session.
I believe this should go back into effect. I believe all members of our governmental system. Excluding positions that would be bullseye targets for terrorists, extremists (example: the president), are not paid in any means whatsoever. If you want to run for governer, or congress. Don’t quit your day job. How many people would run for congress if they didn’t get paid? Most people probably would think noone would, but they would be wrong. Their are patriots in this country that would gladly run for congress or any other governmental position to IMPROVE americans way of life, even if they were not compensated to do so. I would. Why? Its my sacred duty, and parental instinct to protect and provide for my children.
The same greed that has fallen into our government even seeps its ways through the religious systems. I find it disgusting that “men of the people” get paid more than the men breaking their backs, and bleeding everyday so that they can squeeze by and hope to make ends meet to provide for their families. The system is corrupt, the system is broken. It’s time that the american people step up, and “CHOOSE” exactly WHAT our government spends on, and ensure that those in our government are in their positions solely to make our lives better! I’ve not taken a vacation in 2 years, I’ve frequently worked 7 days a week, and I’ve occasionally pulled 24+ hours working non-stop. At the worst, I pulled 36 hours non-stop post-katrina.
Myself, like many others in this country, sacrifice our health on a daily basis to ensure that our families are provided for. While members of our government use our tax dollars to play golf, hunting, throw balls and parties. Pull the plug on the 200,000+ a year salaries, and I guarentee we’ll see people put into office that care about the betterment of this country.
Is it truly fair that a retired person of congress makes more money than other retired americans who broke their back everyday of their life? As I said I’m not as educated in the system or in many ways than i’m sure most people posting here. But all I ever seem to see is that our government, moans, complains, and bickers with each other for months and years at a time before ever deciding to implement or remove something. Yet it only takes congress minutes to decide to give themselves a pay raise. Where it’s taken years for our government to actually take notice of the energy crisis.
While the government, the people, the media focus on the energy crisis. The world has seem to forgotten hiding behind the energy crisis, is also the water crisis. I think the problems at home need to be resolved before we boast our dollars and voice to the rest of the world. In otherwise, it’s time america closes its borders, and fixes everything at home, before marching its military and government voices in other parts of the world. I could careless if Iran is building a nuclear bomb. We have the technology to keep their nuke’s at bay. How many tax dollars is being lost from illegal immigrants working “under the table?” How many us dollars are going into central and south america from illegal immigrants sending the monies to their families.
Pull the plug on religious zealot states like Alabama, that refuse to allow the lottery into the state. If all states in the USA have the lottery, look at the revenue increase that could be used for education like in Florida.
Many things can be done through private sectors, versus the government – that could increase revenue within the government, so that these funds could therefore increase our way of life. Space exploration is going the route of private sectors. Education could most likely be floated by the lottery division if all states were involved. I’ll even throw this out there, though I most likely lose all credibility if I’ve even gained any. Legalize marijuanna. I myself am an alcohol, drug-free individual. But the town I grew up in, and the people I know. At least in my area, i’d say 1 out of 5 people partake in this illegal drug. That’s 60 million american’s. 6,480,000,000 packs of malboro greens a year on average. $10 a pack $5 in taxes, 32.4 Billion a year in taxes off of that in 1 year. 32.4 Billion doesn’t sound like alot considering the deficit. But 32.4 billion would cover the government’s expenses in Energy, Medicare related, social security related, agriculture, and general government.
It is estimated that in the first half of the decade starting in year 2000 over 3.1 million illegal immigrants entered the United States. Need I say more? How much in tax dollars is lost every year from a number like this of Illegal’s working under the table? Let’s say $2000 per person thats $6,200,000,000.
Eliminate pay roll of congress thats 535 members at an average of say $150,000 per person thats $80,250,000
A report by the Citizens for Tax Justice estimates that in 2008, “only 3.2 percent of taxpayers will have adjusted gross income (AGI) greater than $200,000 and only 2.1 percent will have AGI over $250,000. There are about 117 million taxpayers in the United States.[8] The Treasury Department in 2006 reported, based on Internal Revenue Service (IRS) data, the share of federal income taxes paid by taxpayers of various income levels.
So that means there is 3,744,000 americans that make more than $200,000 a year. This proposition obviously will tick off the “ELITE” but how many of the 3,744,000 that make 200k+ a year are making it solely because of their work, and not from the work of the grunts underneath them that are causing them to bonus out to make this – exactly. $50 weekly Wealth tax, at a rate of $2600 a year. $9,734,400,000 And for every $25,000 per year more than $200,000 an individual makes they should be charged another $25 per week. Therefore the 9.7 billion could range at up to 20bil or more a year.
So within 20 minutes of writing this, we’re talking about an increased revenue of around $100 billion or more. 20 minutes of brainstorming from an uneducated redneck yields $100 billion more added to the coffers, and ensures we have true patriots in our leadership positions, that would GUARENTEE a better way of life for the american people. Now if I got my hands on what all the government actually spends our money on down to the nickle every year. I guarentee you, within 1 month there would be a surplus.
I’m sure it’s like any thing else when it comes to work. When I walk into a job site and I see literally 3 tons of product that I’ve got to put up by hand. I work slower, I take more breaks, and I’m mentally discouraged, but I suck it up and do it – Other guys in my position when presented with tasks of that magnitude – many walked right out the door, and quit. Someone is given a set of books 10 feet tall showing everything the government is spent, their going to be lazy and half-ass it or their just not going to do it at all.
Remove the potentional for greed; Valor, loyalty, and dedication will prevail.
June 17th, 2008 at 8:33 am
Excellent charts!
I wished you wouldv’e won in the 90′s. If you can run a couple of multi-billion dollar businesses, I’m quite certain you can run our country for us.
Quite frankly, ALL the candidates who run for president lack 1 thing which would 110% GUARANTEE their win for presidency. Care to win Ross? It’s the #1 rule in business and ALL candidates fail to view what is right in front of them.
I’ll wait for your contact.
George. Naperville IL
June 17th, 2008 at 8:56 am
What can we do other than elect more fiscally responsible leaders to Congress and our own state governments?
I feel like the majority of Americans will never vote for fiscally responsible candidates or at least will not re-elect them at the first hint that they are trying to cut their social security or government hand-outs.
We are too selfish as a nation to agree to cuts that impact us regardless if they are good for the health of the nation. It’s sad.
June 17th, 2008 at 9:36 am
Wish you had stayed in the race and won, however, you had the foresight that you could not buck the big $ machines that were in place.
I hope it is not too late for this country, however, that hope doesn’t look good at this point. I hope to visit with you at USNA for the 55th.
June 17th, 2008 at 10:07 am
Great job Ross! This is a very impressive site. I am looking at one of your 1992 debt projection charts and, while the annual numbers for some of the intermediate years are off in some cases, the end point for 2006 is very close to the then actual debt level. We can’t let the longer-range charts on this site become a reality. As a result, must take steps soon to get our fiscal house in order if we want our future to be better than our past.
June 17th, 2008 at 10:25 am
Ross, I voted for you when you ran in 1990 and only can wish that your influence was more evident post that event. You make a flawless case with a presentation that even Mr. Watson Sr at IBM would have approved. BUt, what is missing is a course of action. YOU need to get under the saddle of McCain and Obama and have their economic advisors (Carly Fiorina, puleeze) to wakew up and smell this coffee. Otherwise, ObamaCain will look like Herbert Hoover did (a deer in the headlights) as all of the protectionists, regulation hounds and other economic jackals run the show.
So, please, I can’t say “Ross for Boss” anymore, but you have to use your salesmanship and brains to get to these knuckleheads and have them amend their policies.
June 17th, 2008 at 10:58 am
Perot and His Charts are Back…
Billionaire and presidential race spoiler Ross Perot is back. During the 1992 race Perot was famous for making economic charts and graphs part of his political process as he attempted to explain in clear terms the economic trends of taxation, governmen…
June 17th, 2008 at 11:11 am
This is an excellent subject. I would say that 90% of the U.S. popluation is ignoring the issue. The next generation will be buried by debt and they have no idea it is coming. We are in trouble now and will be in the future. Mr. Ohbama is not the answer. We need really smart people who understand business and economics.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:42 am
SirPercival,
OK, everbody knows there were recorded surpluses around 2000, you make it sound as if this is some esoteric fact, but Democrats claim credit for it all the time, even on Fox News (do you watch?).
But if Republicans wanted to they could claim credit for the budget surpluses; when they were elected into Congress in 1994—on a platform of balancing the budget (including an attempt to pass a Balanced Budget Amedment), they forced Clinton on a program of reduced spending, including the Welfare Reform bill. Do you really think Clinton would have signed Welfare Reform into law if not for the pressure of the Republican Congress?
Also from what I understand, a lot of this surplus was just projected by the CBO–ie not all of it materialized materialized–and a lot of its based in including money in that should be in the social security trust fund.
Lastly, I remember both in 1992 and 1996 in his infomercials Perot showed charts detailing what would have happened with the budget deficit if the government did absolutely nothing. The charts he showed–back in 1992 even—had the budget balancing itself by 2000, and immediately afterwards, the deficit skyrocketing again. There’s a field within economics called structural deficit analysis that can make these long-term predictions.
You really have no basis to be snotty about the facts you’re citing.
June 17th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
We American’s have such short memories. The budget was a big issue during the late 80′s and early 90′s. Thanks Ross for bringing this subject again to the nation’s attention.
June 17th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Unfortunately for us we have two choices – John McCain or Barack Obama. I really don’t see either one of then and our Congress “taking the bull by the horns.” I’m just a little guy trying to keep my head above water and I’m sinking like a rock.
Got any ideas?
June 17th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Thank-You for this site. I too voted for you Ross. I also want to Thank Bruce Barnes for his comments. Bruce, I think your idea of a net worth tax is the most intelligent idea I have ever heard regarding taxation. Who are you? You should be in politics. I have always voted republican with the one exception when I voted for Ross. I no longer feel the Republican Party represents me. But I also don’t feel that the Democrats represent me. We really do need a party that represents the Middle Class.
June 17th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
I think your new website is well done. I agree with the charts, but where do you address the problems with, illegal imigration, moving jobs overseas, lowing taxes for the wealthy, poor congressional and government spending, it seems to me you address all of the monry problems of this country under the headings:
Social Security
Medicare
Medicaid
I worked from 14 years old until 67 years old a total of 53 years. I didn’t start working at 22( after college) and retire at 62 (40 years) as the Baby Boomer will.
I have served my country, paid my income taxes,paid my social security taxes and I am entitled to receive my social security and use medicare.
Cutting our entitlements is easy for those in Washington, but they never cut their entitlements. If I die my wife doesn’t get my full social security payment, but that congressmans wife get his full retirement.
Ross…All of the money you are spending on this site is OK, but try for once in your life to work for the little guy.
I wonder, if you only invest in Made in the USA companies or do you invest in Make it cheap in China and ship it to the USA companies.
Nice website, but you have not addressed the solution, only the problem.
June 17th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Too bad their isn’t the political will.
Although after watching people rally around RP, hope isn’t all lost.
Too bad we don’t have a young, Perot who wouldn’t might to shake things up a bit.
Too bad my generation is going to have to fix this mess of county we are getting handed down to us.
June 17th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
Your 35 slides tell the whole story. Campaigns lasting years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and not a word has been issued about any of this — the truth. What a pitty. I guess we’re doomed.
June 17th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
Great charts. Can the numeric data and tables be made available in electronic form (such as spreadsheet or text files) so that some of us can do our own analysis?
Thanks!
[Editor - A good suggestion. We have indicated our sources, so you can download the data yourself, but we will look into making it easier to download the data directly.]
June 17th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
Great presentation. I think the problem is there is just no accountability in Washington. The numbers are just to big and the average american doesn’t “get it”.
I don’t think it will sink in until we truely do run out of Apple Pie and Vanilla Ice Cream…..
June 17th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
Dear Mr. Perot:
I voted for you when you ran in 1992. I really believe that we must preserve the economic miracle that has given our citizens one of the highest living standards in the world. This economic miracle has not been due to the efforts of Wall Street MBA’s, Stock Market Gamblers, Real Estate Speculators, Economists, Insurance Salesmen, Junk Bond Salesmen, Lawyers, etc. It has been due to the Industrial Base that produced the items that we consumed, plus produced an excess of goods & services that we sold to other countries in order to accumulate gold reserves through a positive balance of trade surplus payments. The gold reserves are the basis of the value or buying power of our currency. Today’s price of oil at $130.00/bbl would be about $66.00 if the value of the dollar was equal to the exchange value of one year ago compared to the Euro.
Who has decided that we can continue our economic miracle by becoming a service oriented economy/society by cooking hamburgers for each other using imported beef, imported vegetables, etc.; suing each other, and selling insurance & junk bonds to each other, but definitely not manufacturing or creating anything that we can sell as export goods, or that we can consume instead of importing the products that we consume; and then paying for them by borrowing more money and/or issuing U.S Bonds (junk bonds) to redeem the dollars paid to non-de-industrialized foreign governments. This stupidity will eventually change this country into a third world country when foreign countries discover that we will not repay (redeem the bonds) the money that they are lending us. Foreign Governments and their rulers are not stupid. They will continue buy the real estate, industries, and financial institutions with the low value bonds that we gave to them (to pay for the things that we wanted by way of imports rather than us working to manufacture these items). The US citizens will then be third world employees or slaves to the foreign countries that will own everything in the USA. Future nationalization (ala Mexico) of foreign owned assets is another discussion topic.
There is nothing more saddening or devastating than mass unemployment such as exists in countries such as Mexico or India. Crime, family abandonment, divorce, and other bad things increase during these periods. Our basic industries (Steel, Computer chip Manufacturing, Petrochemical Refining, Appliance Manufacturing, Tire Manufacturing, Automobile Parts Manufacturing, Aircraft Manufacturing, Textiles, etc.) have been decimated and/or totally eliminated from this country by OSHA and the EPA. The North American Free Trade Agreement has almost eliminated the remainder of the basic industry manufacturing jobs from the USA. The OSHA and the EPA are the major causes of the de-industrialization of the USA. The USA must re-industrialize. Even if OSHA and the EPA were eliminated today, it would take years to re-create the manufacturing and industrial production bases that they destroyed. New jobs created by the EPA are nice, but they are about as economically useful to our balance of payments and our industrial base as raking leaves, since they do not produce anything economically useful that we can consume. Disband OSHA and the EPA in total and fire all of those government employees. Be decisive, not timid or partial.
Our Productive Industrial Base could not exist with foreign invasion, rampant crime, protection rackets, corruption, foreign invasion, sabotage, etc., so a portion of the money earned by this industrial base has usually been taken by taxation to pay the federal government and local governments to prevent these occurrences. Civilizations have always taxed the population base to pay for National Security, Crime Prevention, and other items that assist and protected their industrial production base.
Our U S Government is now spending these taxes and our gold reserves on entitlement schemes in order to buy votes from non-productive citizens that do not contribute to, help, or support our industrial base. There is a limit to how many non-productive people that the productive people within our industrial economic productive base can support by producing enough wealth (gold) to support these non-productive people. When our gold reserves became diminished, we then continued to expand these entitlements by borrowing money from foreign banks and foreign governments by pledging the “Full Faith & Credit of the United States of America” (aka Junk Bonds) in lieu of bond re-payment in gold. We also decided that we could allow OSHA and the EPA to close down the industrial bases that originally created these gold reserves that were the basis of the value of our currency. The federal gold reserve that was created by our positive balance of trade has allowed the USA to expend this gold to provide social experiments, foreign aid, wars, and other functions that would not be possible without the gold reserves created by our industrial bases. The Federal monetary system, the foreign trade deficit (or surplus), and the national debt are interrelated in this way and control our standard of living. You must educate your students and the public to this fact. If we continue to import more and more of the things that we consume, and continue to pay for these items by borrowing money (aka Selling U S Government issued Bonds) since our gold reserves are essentially gone, we could very soon end up being a third world country like Mexico, Somalia or Ethiopia with no jobs for our population. We cannot continue to ignore our balance of trade deficit. We need to be willing to do anything that will replenish our gold reserves. This can be done by exporting more dollar value of goods and services than we import, and then getting the gold from the other countries that buy our goods & services. We must improve our balance of trade situation so that we are importing gold (including cash, bonds & other securities) instead of exporting gold and securities from our gold reserves to redeem our dollars. We must again begin to manufacture and/or create the things that we consume, and/or produce goods that we can export to pay for the things that we import. We can enjoy free trade if we produce enough value of products that we sell to the foreign nations that will pay us enough for those products that we export to them.
We are borrowing money (aka Selling Junk Bonds) from foreign countries to operate our federal Government. These countries will soon realize that we have destroyed our industrial base and are borrowing money to purchase the things that we are consuming. The citizens of the exporting countries realize that their U. S. issued bonds are becoming of less and less value every day, but that they can purchase USA real estate, financial organizations, office buildings, apartments, and our remaining industries in the U.S. using their U. S. issued bonds as payment, and this prevents the devaluation of the purchasing power of their U.S. issued bonds that they obtained in exchange for the items that they exported to the U.S. for our consumption and maintaining our quality of life.
If we do not balance the federal budget and we continue to borrow money from foreign banks and nations (aka Selling Junk Bonds) to pay for our social entitlements and social experiments, wars, and our balance of trade, what are we going to do when foreign banks and other nations refuse to lend us more money? Will we just crank up the printing presses like Mexico? It is not fair for us to live high on the hog with borrowed money that our children and grandchildren will have to pay back to foreign banks and foreign governments. The federal debt of 9.25 Trillion dollars divided by 250 million citizens equals about $37,000 per person, or ten times that for each productive worker. We must reduce our federal government expenditures.
Our Student loan program gives student loans to students that want to become MBA’s, lawyers, artists, poets, historians, political scientists, plus all sorts of other degrees that generally do not contribute anything to our Industrial base. Student loans should be available for only those fields such as science, engineering, and medicine that do contribute to our industrial base and our international trade balance. Student loans should not be available for prospective MBAs, historians, English majors, accountants, lawyers, artists, poets, theologians, actors, or any other activities that do not contribute to our industrial base. Let the people that enjoy art, poetry, gambling, playing stocks, and etc. pay for those activities. I believe that there is very little economic future in engineering. I believe that most students want to study business and/or economics to become Enron type Master Criminals, or like some of the other extremely wealthy master criminals of today. If you review almost any of the SEC filings you will find almost all of the sworn information is extremely false, especially when you get away from the “Blue Chip” stocks. No person in their right mind would major in science or engineering since the pay scale has eroded so much (due to the import of foreign engineers who will work for just slightly above minimum wages and a Green Card). The Foreign Engineers might only be 20% as productive as US educated engineers, but they are willing to work for only 10% or 15% of the pay that US educated engineers are paid, or used to be paid, then it is twice as economically effective to employ foreign educated engineers when compared to U.S. educated engineers, except for the liability of the additional design failures.
a. What are the REQUIRED functions of a U S Federal Government?
Military – To protect us from foreign invasion and allow our industrial activities to provide products to export to create a positive effect on our balance of trade.
Coast Guard – To collect import tariffs, Patrol Coastlines, intercept and deport illegal aliens.
Courts & FBI – To investigate crimes and to enforce domestic laws that keep an organized economy operating with minimal disturbances due to criminal activities.
Treasury – To coin money, regulate Banking, etc.
Postal Service – To process mail – This is a terrible situation – Not as efficient as FEX, UPS, and other non-government mail services. Make it non-union and non-civil service so that postal employees will have to work to keep their jobs.
Immigration & Naturalization Service – Keep illegal immigrants out of this country and deport illegal immigrants. Reduce this agency in size by making it illegal for citizens to hire non-citizens.
DOE – We need nuclear bombs, nuclear energy, and nuclear R&D. The next time we want to make war, use Nuclear Bombs and not troops.
The tidal wave of immigration and high birth-rate propagation of immigrants will eventually allow the immigrants to rule this country. When the Latin American Immigrants take over this country, do you believe that it will be different from any other country run by Latin Americans? Stop all immigration into this country, except those with technical educations that will contribute to the re-industrialization of the USA economy.
We need vigorous enforcement and prosecution of the people who benefited from the S&L looting. This includes getting the Keating 5 Representatives into prison. This includes asking how Bill & Hillary paid for their shares of the Whitewater land speculation. Even if you cannot get these people into prison, apply pressure to totally disgrace these people. We need to be more concerned about these white collar crimes.
b. There are some Federal Government functions that benefit the entire nation and can more easily be accomplished on a national level:
Agriculture – But eliminate the capability of this agency to distribute cash tax funds to farmers and agro-businesses. Distribute only advice and opinions to farmers. Conduct scientific agricultural research for the benefit of farmers.
FDA – To certify the quality and safety of food & drugs – This is indeed a national problem.
Health – To advise and protect us from national medical problems and concerns. To test and certify the safety of medical products and drugs. Expenditures should be limited to R&D only for the benefit of the total population. The medical expenditures in 1950 was less than 1/2 of 1% of the GNP. Today it is 16% of the GNP and rising rapidly. Maybe we should have National free health, since only the middle class pays for their health care. Medicare, Medicaid, Welfare, recipients plus Illegal Immigrants get their healthcare paid for by the taxpayers anyway.
Interstate Highway – make it self supporting with fuel taxes. Trucks damage the pavement with their heavier axle weights very much more than automobiles, and should pay the most taxes. Taxes should be based exponentially upon axle weight limits so that those who damage the paving the most will pay their proportional share. Talk to the Texas Highway Department engineers in addition to the DOT.
Federal Aviation System – This system benefits the air transportation system, including private pilots (like myself). The entire cost of this system should be paid for by the air transportation system, the air passengers, and not the taxpayers. Aviation fuel taxes might be the proper way to finance the total cost of the FAA.
Inter Coastal Canal System – The nation’s waterways benefits the barge transportation system. The entire cost of this system should be paid for by the barge transportation system that benefits from this system, and not the taxpayers. Maritime diesel fuel taxes used by the barge system might be the proper way to finance the Inter Coastal Canal System.
NASA – This is a national ego thing – we could do without this, some R&D benefits are realized. It is not a large expenditure compared to welfare and other entitlements, but this is not a necessary expenditure. This Expenditure does give the USA some prestige & propaganda to the world that is of some minor benefit.
National Parks Service – Maintain our Parks for the use of all, but increase park use fees in order to make the park users (campers) pay for all of the National Parks Service operation & maintenance cost.
Education – The local education systems have served this country well. Eliminate all of the federal education expenditures. The problems are with the local teachers that do not know the subjects that they teach. Eliminate education courses and education degrees from colleges, make the teachers learn the subjects that they want to teach. The students need to learn science to benefit the nation. Pay science teachers (that have science degrees) more than other teachers. In Texas, the state is trying to make the students study creationism. We need a constitutional amendment to prohibit the teaching or the consideration of any religious, superstition, supernatural or similar based and/or influenced theory as a legitimate science.
Banking Regulation – Have a National record of Loans made by financial institutions so that loan documentation will not be lost or destroyed by unscrupulous parties (like the Whitewater Scandal where the Clinton’s loan documentation could not be found after the S&L loan files were stored at Hillary’s Law firm). The banks need to be aggressively monitored and audited. Banking white collar criminals should be punished severely. These people are modern-day Willie Suttons. You should create a National registry of Loans made by financial institutions to individuals and other institutions so that loan documentation will not be lost or destroyed by unscrupulous parties such as the whitewater loans. Ken Lay was probably the most successful master criminal of all times, even though he was convicted.
Social Security – Why not limit individual benefits to the amount deposited by that individual?
DOT – Why should everyone pay for metropolitan subway systems that benefit only a few people in a particular city or region.
c. There are some Federal Government functions that should be completely eliminated:
EPA – If not disbanded, re-organize with orders not to hamper any re-industrialization of the USA – If the EPA had been created in 1865, the USA would be a third world country today, and/or part of Germany or Japan.
WELFARE – Billions of Tax Dollars for multi-generation welfare recipients should be eliminated. Taking funds from workers to pay lazy people not to work should be a crime. Paying People to watch TV and have multiple babies is not right. Referring to these un-married whores and prostitutes as single parents is an insult to the hard working single parents that do support themselves and their offspring. I am also ready to eliminate the AFDC program. What percentage of the AFDC funds are spent on crack cocaine and other drugs rather than children? What percentage of our prison population benefited from AFDC as children? We should build dormitories with large open bay sleeping quarters for the children under 18 that cannot be supported by their parents. Any parent could check their children into these facilities, and only visit their children on weekends. Minimum lengths of stay according to the school semester system could be mandated along with other rules & regulations. We need to take care of our children, but not give AFDC money to the children’s parents to purchase illegal drugs. AFDC money is the only reason that many drug addicted parents and/or prostitutes want custody of their children.
Unemployment Payments – These payments just postpone relocation of people to where jobs still exist. What are we going to do after the EPA and OSHA have destroyed most or all of our industrial and manufacturing jobs entirely? There will not be any jobs anywhere in the U.S. anyway.
SSI – Free money paid to drunks & drug addicts? Why?
World Bank Support – This is another giveaway of U. S. Taxpayer Money to the leaders of third world governments that their leaders siphon off funds to their personal Swiss Bank Accounts. The USA should not continue to loan money to the World Bank. This will not change in the near future, or probably will never change. Generally, they will never pay the U.S. back in total.
FARM MONEY – Billions of Tax Dollars for farm price supports makes some farmers millionaires. This is welfare for farmers. Eliminate the price control part of this department and limit the expenditures to Agricultural R&D. Fire all of the other employees. Disband the Farmers Home Loan Program, and eliminate all cash payments to farmers.
Social Security – Is it fair for people to pay a total of $20,000 into the system, and then draw out $200,000 retirement plus another $100,000 in Medicare benefits during retirement? Change the social Security benefits to be equal to or proportional to the amount paid into the system by each individual. Illegal Immigrants will no longer enter this country, pay $15,000 into the system during 7 quarters of employment, and then withdraw as much retirement as a person who paid into the system for 50 years. I have heard that many of these Illegal Aliens have several Different Social Security Accounts under different names, and draw several retirement checks under these under different names. Maybe we cannot afford Social Security as it is currently structured. Make maximum individual personal benefits equal the total individual contributions. Raise the retirement age, let the benefits float to control costs to match the funds that might be available. Eliminate Medicare. Medicare is Welfare for the Medical Profession. As an alternate, create a socialized medical system, since only the middle class working people pay for their own family medical care.
HOUSING – Stop spending billions of tax dollars for Housing Projects, Mass Transit, Dams, and other projects that only benefit certain people. Stop promising Park Barrel projects to each and every city in order to get votes. The people that benefit should pay for the cost of the things that only benefit those few people. Why is housing a national problem and not a local problem? Why do federally funded housing projects turn into drug and crime areas? Disband the Department of Housing and fire all of the employees. This has been a scandal of taxpayer funding promoters in return for campaign contributions from the beginning.
EPA – The Environmentalists & Sierra Club want to close all industries that emit any pollution. They want polluting industrial plants must close down and relocate the jobs to foreign countries. The Companies will then fire the USA workers and hire foreign workers in the relocated plants. These industrial plants and jobs have been generally lost forever. The Environmentalists have created conditions so that the continental USA is not even considered as a site for any type of new plant or industry that would create any jobs for USA citizens. Jobs that do not produce the food, shelter and clothing that we consume are useless make-work jobs like raking leaves and/or performing environmental clean-up. If the EPA had been created in 1865, the USA would be a third world country today.
TAXES – Why not have a National Retail Sales Tax instead of an income tax. Those purchasing the most probably make the most income and/or do not work and then have the large income from some trust account. We could then fire most of the IRS personnel. You could exempt grocery store food (and maybe residential rents) to help low income people.
NEA – Disband the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, and fire all of the employees. Taxpayers should not have to pay for these useless activities. The taxpayers should not have to support and pay for monuments to Lawrence Welk, pornographic photographs, bridges to nowhere, etc. Let those that enjoy pornography & any other types of art funded by this agency pay for it. The public does not need to pay for any art. It is a small expenditure, but it represents disrespect for and is an insult to the Hardworking Citizen Taxpayer when public tax funds are expended for pornographic art, like photographs of crucifixes in bottles of the artist’s urine. I wonder how much the government employees paid for that photograph. The average citizen probably does not approve or even care for anything that the “Art Experts” have done with public fund expenditures. How did this silly agency ever get started?
The textile and clothing manufacturing jobs were relatively low paying, low skill, labor intensive jobs. This industry could be easily re-created if we wanted it. If un-employment of the un- Labor costs are the prime factor in the loss of these industries. If unemployment of our educated and un-skilled citizens persists, trade barriers might need to be re-erected to re-create this type industry. We also need high technology jobs that require education. This is one of the few industries that the EPA did not destroy. Foreign labor availability and lower labor costs will probably destroy the jobs in the high technology industries in the USA.
The Civil Rights Attorneys Fee Awards Act has made millionaires of many lawyers, released many murderers and other criminals that subsequently committed additional murders and other violent crimes from prison. This has made crime an attractive career for younger people to emulate. This act has removed the deterrence factor from our criminal law system. Repeal this act. This act has transformed our penal system from a place of punishment to a place of Relaxation, Body Building, Weight Lifting, and watching Cable TV for the convicted prisoners.
NEH – Let those who want to study the humanities do it at their own expense. The citizens cannot afford any of this expense. There is no benefit to the nation.
Mental Health – Let those who want to have mental health treatment do it at their own expense. Why enrich the psychiatrists and psychologists at taxpayer expense? Most of the recent mass murderers have been under the care of psychiatrists and psychologists anyway.
HUD – Building of new high rise slums where crime enforcement is not possible (unless the tenants become armed) has been a huge waste of funds.
Foreign Aid – Why should we pay money to governments that pay U.S. government employees to sell them our U.S. national asset type secrets? This is a giveaway of U. S. Taxpayer Money to corrupt foreign governments that siphon off funds to the leaders Swiss Bank Accounts.
Government employees previously were lowly paid in return for a secure future. If you count the retirements and security, government employees are now paid about double the salaries paid in the private sector for the same or similar job.
June 17th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
The only tool we have to rein in Congress is the vote. We are up against a cabal of Hollywood types and amoral billionaires (Soros, Lewis, etc) who spend their dollars against any voice of reason and morality. Ross encountered the establishment during both of his campaigns and it wasn’t pretty. The three power structures (Republicans, Democrats, and Soros-funded) work very hard to destroy competing groups if they have any strength at all.
We need a strong, well-financed and effective force outside the established structure that makes more noise and educates more effectively than those within. There is a concerted effort to shut off the conservative voice underway now. If you think Perot ’92 got ugly, just take on George Soros or Frank Donatelli.
50 million or so of us is good for starters.
June 17th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Don’t know if anyone has mentioned it yet, the “giant sucking sound” predictions came home to roost much bigger than anyone ever thought and I see no light at the end of the tunnel. The trade imbalance is sinking this country fast. Ross told ‘em.
June 17th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Hello Ross Perot:
Thank you so much for creating information website. For every business we expect one to prepares realistic business plan except our government.
It will be a great benefit to include summary of trade agreements and trade balances.
I wish to see you appear in several media programs such as Lou Dobbs (CNN) to promote existence of this website.
Thank you.
June 17th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
Mr. Perot, you are a hero for trying to educate the American people on the truth about our dire fiscal picture. Your use of US Government data makes all that you have posted on PerotCharts.com that much more credible.
I recently read a book – also based totally on US Government data/records/memoranda/intelligence reports – which pointed out how perfidious our own government has been for the past three decades. AN ENORMOUS CRIME; The Definitive Account of US POWs in SE Asia by former Rep. Bill Hendon and Beth Stewart is the most extensively researched book I have ever read on this or any topic.
Mr. Perot, why do we not hear from you about this very important topic – the POWs left behind who have still not be recovered – and your thoughts on John McCain’s role in this POW issue? Your long history in the POW issue is heroic; but we need to hear from you on this book and on the truth about our missing men.
Please tell us what you think on the POWs the same way you have posted this incredible fiscal data!
Tim
June 17th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Mr. Perot needs to run for President again. Maybe this time the American people will listen. Everything has already been mentioned in this blog that are in my thoughts so I won’t repeat here. It seems the people making comments here are intelligent and ready to support Mr. Perot. Enough words! It’s time for action.
Stay well Mr. Perot, and continue your good works. This site is just an example.
Phil Erklen, President
International Music Syndicate
June 17th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Mr. Perot: Let me cut directly to the bottom line! The only way we have a chance to reverse the travesty which our elected officials have gotten us into is to create an entire “Grass Roots ” campaign which offers not only a President/Vice President platform but an entire slate of committed reformers which can replace and change the way “good Ole Boy Politics” have been done for the past seventy five years.
The only way this will occur is each and every one of us who subsribe to your site and many others like David Walker’s site must make an active decision to get invovled and become both physicly and verbally envolved in making an all out attemt to save our Country.
If anyone out there thinks we can expect any major change from within the Belt Way-Shame on you!
Put a platform together. Arm ourselves with the Truth and let’s take back the glourious Country our elected officials have been giving away.
Chuck Robertson
June 17th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Thank you Sir for putting up this site, Needless to say what we have now in Congress, is a far cry to what we need.
I’m 70 years old, I’ve seen what we can do together. We need to get this website out to as many people as we can! I’II do my part!
Just one suggestion: Use your voice on the charts.
Thank You
June 17th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
I have come to conclusion it is no longer a “recession” rather it is a “Depression”.
I think it will get much worst before it gets better, and when I read:
“…some nights we eat cereal and toast for dinner because that’s all I have.”
“…we have at times had to choose between baby food, diapers and heating fuel.”
“I don’t go to church many Sundays, because the gasoline is too expensive to drive there.”
“…the pennies have all but dried up…I am sad, broken, and very discouraged.”
“…my mortgage is behind, we are at risk for foreclosure, and I can’t keep up with my car payments.”
it reminds me while we were in Europe during World War II.
I did not copy the article because it is about 4 pages long. I did find it very
interesting and how bad it is.
http://www.roguegovernment.com/news.php?id=8665
Manipulations In Time Of War And Hunger
04-27-2008
International Forecaster
June 17th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
http://www.fedupusa.org
http://www.market-ticker-denninger.net
http://www.tickerforum.org
Mr. Perot, if you could find your way to support our efforts (and upcoming DC protest), our voices will be so much more effective together.
God bless your brand of Nationalism..
Peter Morahan
pcwise@mac.com
June 17th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
Love to see this message being reinforced.
I have been looking at the current economic conditions in this country of late, and am thankful for all the U.S.A. has offered us Americans.
The three suggestions made in the video RING true.
1 Strong applied moral and ethics
2 Strong Family units
3 Strong Public schools
Consider a beginning paragraph from Thomas Paine Published in 1776, Common Sense:
SOME writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness POSITIVELY by uniting our affections, the latter NEGATIVELY by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse(EXCHAGE FOR COMMON GOOD?), the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher.
If the three suggestions were “made perfect” there would be little room for the condition our country finds its self in.
God bless all, and Thanks.
June 17th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
Thank you so much for reappearing on the public stage Mr. Perot, we need your knowledge and intelligence now more than ever. United We Stand!
June 17th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
Mr Perot,
PLEASE run as an independent for president in November.
You are the only voice of reason out there and we need you. The 2 choices we have been presented give me a queasy gizzard; neither has your talents.
Please consider my request.
HOW ABOUT IT EVERYBODY?
MAYBE WE CAN CONVINCE MR. PEROT IF WE ALL SPEAK UP !!
June 17th, 2008 at 11:37 pm
Mr. Perot thank you for speaking the truth. I work with your CISO on a regular basis. Most Americans don’t realize that the Soviet Union did not collapse because they were defeated in war. They were sucked into war that could not be won, spending themselve into oblivion. In short they were not fiscally responsible. This tatic was used by the mujahidin, or back then “freedom fighers”. Well guess what, these are they same peope who are now Al Queda. They are trying to weaken us financially so that our influence around the world is questioned. We must find a way to get the masses to understand what is happening. But I, like you have great faith in the American people. I believe good will triumph over evil in the end, but we must act.
Again Thank You
David E. Harris
CEO Reconnaissance Technologies
June 18th, 2008 at 1:42 am
Yessssss Glad too see Mr. Perot back in the media!!!! Would really be great if he would run for President!!!!! I have a great idea How about Ross Perot and Ron Paul in 2008. I really really like the sound of that one!!!!!!!!!! RP and RP in the whitehouse God wouldnt that be awesome!!!!! We need you Ross and Ron before it is tooo late. Take care and God Bless you Ross Perot
June 18th, 2008 at 3:02 am
Brian Shapiro, you may want to remember than in 1993 and 1994, the GOP wasn’t in control of Congress. The Dems were. But the Dems were also in control of Congress during the JFK/Johnson/Nixon/Ford/Carter/Reagan/Bush years. Notice of those last five Presidents, there was only one Dem. The other 4 were Republicans. Now, we all know Carter wasn’t terribly good. But Reagan and Bush, who were supposed to cut the deficit and debt increased it exponentially. With those last 4 presidents, there were never any two consecutive years that the deficit went down http://perotcharts.com/2008/05/federal-surpluses-and-deficits-1968-2007/ But when it went down from 1993-1994 and 1994-1994, during which Clinton didn’t even have a Republican Congress. While I don’t advocate socialism, the best industrial countries have a decently progressive tax system, and Clinton implemented more of one by raising them on the wealthy. Don’t also forget his Reinventing Government initiative he began in his first term where he cut many extra government workers. He kept the decreasing deficit doing so even with the GOP Congress, which actually was trying to go back to supply side economics. Whatever the opinion on the GOP Congress, without Clinton’s actions, there would have been no surplus. If Bush had been re-elected, there would have been no surplus. the Newt crew came in 95 after the election. Clinton did very well on the budget. Also, with welfare reform, he was gonna sign it anyway. Remember, it was one of his signature campaign slogans in 1992 “end welfare as we know it” and he was going to do it by the 1996 election GOP Congress or not. Him delaying was just timing so to keep Dole whining and looking dumb.
June 18th, 2008 at 3:57 am
Quick question Mr.Perot.. Why haven’t you gone back into politics and became President…We needed you the last time and we need you more now..I can’t believe of all the millions of people in this country..Obama and McCain are the best we came up with…GOD HELP US…
June 18th, 2008 at 7:36 am
Just my two cents but … you did say the presentation would be simple and easy to understand … I was imagining something entertaining like the old NAFTA presentations with the chickens and all but instead, I now have this splitting headache and the only thing I took away from the presentation was that WE’RE ALL SCREWED which I kinda already could figure out without all the details.
Ah well. Good to see a new player weighing back in after all this time. We sure can use the help.
June 18th, 2008 at 8:24 am
These charts are a good first try at getting a handle on Congressional spending. The Congressional Budget Office however is directed by Congress on how to present the numbers. Many, many expenditures by Congress consist of “incidental” charges and “offsets”. Congress has directed the CBO to INCLUDE these charges in the amount that Congress may spend next year. One example: that famous Bridge to Nowhere appropriation enters the baseline as a dollar amount for Congressional spending every year for the rest of time! This is one way that Congress can vote themselves pay raises every year. By the way Presidents don’t appropriate money, Congress does.
There was some talk during the Clinton administration that we had a revenue surplus. If you look only at the CBO numbers OK. BUT the national debt went UP every year of the Clinton administration. That tells me that there was no surplus and Congress and the President were not at all interested in the National Debt. Congress has been practicing deficit spending for decades because the national debt has gone UP almost every year since the 1920′s.
If you look at the career of just one Senator, Ted Kennedy, I would be willing to bet that he, as just one man, has added at least 1 trillion dollars to the national debt.
All this adds up to the fact that Congress is inherently dishonest about the financial aspects of the US Government. All appropriations of Mandatory spending and of Discretionary Spending by Congress should be part of the one budget that Congress acts on. Getting a handle on all spending by Congress will be very difficult because the current system protects rampant corruption.
Sadly, America is heading for some very difficult financial times.
L.Welsh
Plano Texas
June 18th, 2008 at 8:32 am
Perot 08!
June 18th, 2008 at 8:44 am
Mr Perot,
My comments are not about the deficit, at least not directly, but as this economy continues to crash, the amount of tax revenue at all levels of government is going to collapse at the very time the needs of the elderly and the poor are going to skyrocket. Unless government raises taxes to catastrophic levels these needs are not going to be met.
What worries me is that your “data and research for the charts is gathered from official government sources’. In your experience can this data be scewed or even falsifyed for alleged self-serving purposes? Let’s look at Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s rhetoric as it pertains to housing and oil.
For example housing, on Friday, January 18, 2008, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson stated in part that the housing market; “… needs to correct. It’s we’ve had unsustainable growth for some period of time.” Really? Says who? The government through the mouth of Secretary Paulson, Wall Street investment banks, and their supporting media are trying to convince Americans that current home values, across the country are the result of an unjustified run-up in housing prices. Therefore, according to their way of thinking, there was an unsustainable housing “bubble” which has just burst. A bubble burst? How did a very small-alleged problem in the subprime mortgage market blow up to become this potentially catastrophic decline in housing values and consumer confidence?
HOWEVER, the position that a nationwide hsusing bubble has burst may have been publically presented in order to cover-up the real reason for the collapse in housing. Namely, short selling of mortgage backed securities at almost the same time they were being sold to investors as “AAA” securities. Create a security on Monday, sell it on Tuesday and short it on Wednesday! Somebody must be making a ton of dough! Read on.
According to data released by the magazine Trader Monthly on Monday, April 7, 2008 and reported on the MoneyNews.com website, the 2007 payout for one trader was $3 billion or $26 per every American household. Another trader shorting the same market netted himself a $1.5 billion payout. Again quoting the MoneyNews.com website, “Hedge funds often promise to make money in all markets by using tools, such as shorting, that are off limits to other money managers”. If energetic use of this set of tools had the unintended consequence of potentially destroying the accumulated wealth of American homeowners, then something is drastically wrong with this practice. What’s truly amazing here is that nobody in the Federal government, with oversight, detected this practice.
What I don’t understand is how do you devalue investment-grade mortgage bonds without devaluing their collateral, (right word?)? Who initially decided, “housing prices should decline on a national level”? Did Secretary Paulson know about this shorting of the market on January 18, 2008 when he graciously slapped the average American homeowner across the face?
Now as to Paulson on the unconscionable run-up in crude oil etc.
Secretary Paulson stated in an interview with CNBC’s Senior Economics Reporter, Steve Liesman on Monday June 9, 2008 that the run-up in crude oil prices was due to “supply and demand” and unchecked speculation had nothing to do with oil prices
However, comments on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” were more truthful and to the point, namely, that speculators, commodity index funds, large hedge funds, institutions and Wall Street banks who are not users of crude, were buying oil to “buy and hold” in anticipation of a huge run-up in oil. WOW, what a shock! My question is, how does this practice differ from hoarding? Considering the tenuous nature of the energy markets, isn’t this practice not in the best interest of the United States? This situation has to be addressed only as what is good for the country as a whole. After all Congress and the President have apparently decided that Wall Street should be protected even if the outrageous energy prices, especially heating oil and diesel, mean that in this upcoming winter the elderly poor might freeze to death and food becomes too expensive for the poor and lower middle class in general. Hey, let’s face it, millions in backward, underdeveloped countries survive on a lot less than we do, so let the poor shoulder their share of the burden in keeping Wall Street “financiers” happy.
Yet, do we have a conflicted Treasury Secretary? That may be the biggest question of all! Our arrogant and condescending Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson has repeatedly and publically stated that investors are not to blame for the staggering increases in the energy markets. “Investors”, does he really mean “speculators” and hoarders?
But keep this in mind. Before coming to Treasury, Paulson was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Goldman Sachs, a major Wall Street investment bank. This is the same guy who graciously slapped the average American homeowner across the face when he stated that housing prices were bound to collapse because we’ve had unsustainable growth for some period of time! He conveniently ignored the fact that major Wall Street traders had critically shorted the mortgage backed securities markets in 2007 bringing on the collapse of two huge Bear Stearns hedge funds beginning in July 2007.
Somebody should ask this individual where is going after he resigns from Treasury.
For more on this, visit http://www.useconomycrisis.com
June 18th, 2008 at 10:12 am
In the movie “Gone With The Wind”, Scarlet O’Hara’s first words to Rhett Butler were, “Sir, you should have made your presence known!”. I only wish you had spoken out before now. WE need your moral, intelligent leadership. Thank you for your website. Thank you for always speaking the truth! Please let us hear your views on other issues concerning our nation.
June 18th, 2008 at 11:24 am
I worked for you at EDS in the sixties, I voted for you for President and I would vote for you in 2008 if I had a choice. This country is in big trouble and we need you. I bet people are listening now as we approach $5.00 for a gallon of gasoline. Good Luck Ross!
June 18th, 2008 at 11:25 am
DiamondJay,
I don’t think it makes sense at all to judge a party if over the past century when they were in office we had smaller deficits. Of all the many reasons, the Republican and Democratic Parties weren’t the same parties that they’ve always been. Republicans will argue JFK’s policies were closer to modern Republican policies than modern Democratic policies. After him, the Democratic Party started moving towards the left, and only more towards the center again with Clinton. They will also argue Obama will be moving towards the left again.
You should also remember that Reagan had to work with a Democratic Congress, and he wanted to cut more spending than he did.
The GOP Congress during Clinton’s term was less concerned with its supply-side wing than its deficit-hawk wing, even though they tried to push some supply-side policy; it was elected on the Contract with America, which included a Balanced Budget Amendment. Whenever they wanted to cut taxes, they also wanted to reduce spending. In fact a lot of Republicans today, including John McCain, are upset that the GOP lost its focus on reducing spending, even as it tries to continue supply-side policies.
The budget showdown wasn’t about supply-side policies. Leading Congressmen from the 94 revolution, like John Kasich, worked across the aisle to steadily push forward deficit-reducing bills, which Clinton actually vetoed, because he didn’t think the programs would be funded properly, not because they were supply-side oriented. Its true that Clinton ran on talk of Welfare Reform in his campaign, but Democrats were certainly not happy with what ultimately passed, and he would have never gotten that through with the Democratic Congress.
Either way, as I pointed out, economists knew years before that the deficit would start to close on its own, without the government doing anything. And we had increased revenues during the 90s because of the dotcom bubble. Republicans credit Reagan with the growth, but I don’t think has anything to with either party.
Tying deficits to one party and surpluses to another party just doesn’t make sense.
June 18th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
While I truly believe that we’re too late to stop the impending crash that TPTB have set up for us, I am grateful to Mr Perot for returning to the spotlight. Maybe this will help wake up some of the sheeple to what’s going on around them before their world crashes in on their heads. Thank you for this website!
June 18th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
There have been some amazing comments to this blog. So many of you have hit the nail on the head. This is exactly what Ross must have intended with this blog. However, I am surprised by the lack of comments. Maybe we should have a hit counter so we can see how many people are checking out this site. I am also disgusted (but not surprised) by the lack of national media attention. I will send this link to everyone I have in my email address books. It would be great if everyone could do the same. WAKE UP SLEEPING GIANT, PLEASE WAKE UP!!! I know we are working hard and are tired. We are disgruntled and think there is no use in trying. I know the deck seems stacked against us but together we CAN make a difference. This goes beyond any of our differences. Would it be possible to have a page on this site that lists all of the representatives by state that folks can contact?
E-Mail addresses, Physical addresses and phone numbers would be great.
Thanks again for the site.
June 18th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Radical changes are needed otherwise we not not be able to stop Congress from continuing on this path to destruction. We should all understand that 1913 was the true birth of our Federal Government. The States have lost their control over the Federal Government – yes they once had the ability to keep the Federal Government in check.
Ever wonder why the Federal Government has grown so large, why we have Federal Departments that duplicate States Agencies, like the $66 Billion annual budget of the Department of Education? Have you ever wondered why small States have disproportionate representation -of one person one vote? Why Wyoming has two Senators and California has two Senators? Why do states have unfunded mandates?
When this country was founded it was no coincidence that is was named The United States of America. It was not named the People’s Republic of America. The States were to provide for the laws and services required of government and the Federal Government was required to provide the necessary laws to protect the States (common defense), regulate commerce and trade between States, and provide for a consistent and standardized basic set of rights for all people of all these United States. So why then has this changed and do we look to Washington D.C. to solve not only our national but also our local problems? States Rights were so important that we even fought a Civil War over them. Just when did the States finally lose their battle to be an integral part of this nation’s guiding force and be an equal partner with the Federal Government?
Well, it was 1913! In 1913, the States abdicated their role as an equal partner with the Federal Government by ratifying the Seventeenth Amendment. This Amendment replaced a provision in Article 1, Section 3, which stated: “The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof,for six years; and each Senator shall have one Vote…”
Upon ratification in 1913, the Senate of the United States was now responsible only to the people by direct election and no longer were they responsible to the Legislature of their respective States. The direct pandering to the people had begun. No longer was the Senate the so called upper house with responsibility to the States. It was now on a par with the people’s house, The House of Representatives, and with all the requisite pandering and special interests, but with the exception that they were in office for six years instead of two and one third of the Senate was up for election every two years.
In 1913, the people of this nation lost a valuable check and balance which inhibited the Federal Government from growing out of control. If you carefully look at the Constitution, you will find that the founders set up checks and balances over three branches of the Federal Government for the States.
* The Senate must provide advice and consent on all Executive appointees and this includes Judicial appointees, notably the Supreme Court and Federal inferior Courts – circuit courts, etc.
* The Senate must ratify all treaties submitted by the Executive Branch, giving the States some control over foreign affairs.
* The Senate must agree with the House to pass legislation and sits as the jury in matters of impeachment.
The Seventeenth Amendment effectively neutralized the power of the States to control the Federal Government.
Was the Seventeenth Amendment a good thing – I don’t believe so. Let me give one example. Today Congress regularly provides mandates for the States, called unfunded mandates, to spend money on education initiatives, managing illegal alien populations, or supporting medical care for those with no medical coverage, at local hospitals, etc. Now that the Senate is not responsible to the States, it regularly agrees with the House on these mandates, as the alternative would be Federally funded programs requiring an increase in taxes. Instead an unfunded mandate requires the States to increase taxes and your Congressional Representative can say that they have not increased taxes. This ill advised Amendment has fostered an uncontrolled, unchecked runaway Federal Government in size and power.
If you want real change from your Congress, push for repeal of the Seventeenth Amendment. Additional reading: Why Is the Congress The Way It Is? Find it at:
http://brokengovernment.wordpress.com/2008/06/11/why-is-congress-the-way-it-is/
June 18th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
It’s nice that Mr. Perot waited until the man he endorsed for President is almost out of office to start bringing up the deficit boogey man again. I seem to remember that when W. took office we actually had a surplus and we were paying down the national debt. Seven and a half years later and his hand picked choice for leader has added an additional three trillion dollars to the debt. He started a war that cost us half a trillion dollars and didn’ raise a penny of revenue to pay for it.
I was a fan of Perot when he ran for President and forced a national discussion of the debt but now this all seems too little and too late.
June 18th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Genome08, I was disappointed Ross endorsed Dubya too. I think he did it because he was sick of the Republicans accusing him of costing them elections, even tho the only reason Republicans accused Ross of such is because they needed an excuse as to why Clinton beat Bush. Blaming someone other than Bush makes their party look stronger and better that they “didn’t lose on their own” and Clinton didn’t “really win.” It looks really bad when an son of a Senator war hero-turned-Congressman-turned-CIA-head-turned Vice President-turned-President goes from 90 percent approvals after a successful war all the way to 30 percent approvals and resounding defeat to a young draft dodging philandering governor from ARKANSAS. In reality, when Ross was gone from the race July-October 1992, Bush was down in the polls consistently by 20 points averaged http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE2DE143CF931A1575AC0A964958260 Exit polls showed 38 percent of Ross’ voters would have went Clinton, 38 to Bush, and the rest stay home http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE0DB1F3FF936A35752C1A964958260 The myth also was used to politically undermine Clinton, in that he “didn’t get a majority of voters” which is a ridiculous argument because when there is a third candidate, people will vote for him. It gave them the ability to block his initiatives. The same goes for 1996 http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/elections/natl.exit.poll/index1.html What really angers me is that the media bought the idea of Ross as a “spoiler” and still peddle it today.
The Bush machine probably pushed Ross to endorse Bush, because delivering his voters to Bush, as eventually happened helped Bush to victory in 2000. Ross also did attack Clinton for his affair, which I personally think was at the behest of the Republican machine. While no one deserves all the credit for the balanced budget, without Clinton’s deficit cutting bill, the budget would never have been balanced. This is evidenced thru both Republican AND Democratic Congresses. Notice how in the last 40 years, when both have been in power without Clinton, during Nixon/Ford/Carter/Reagan/Bush and Bush, the deficit is only high. The GOP had one party rule from 2001-2007 and bloated the deficit, when they were supposed to keep spending low. Instant runoff voting would do the trick. Then, 3rd party candidates could win the electoral college. Of course, the party machines will never allow it. Ross woulda won 1992 if people thought he had had a chance to win. There was an exit poll I think that showed this.
June 18th, 2008 at 7:14 pm
Thank’s Mr. Perot for making it posible to have a general idea of what is at stake by showing us the economic charts. and many ideas and solutions can come out of by facing the real problem.
Economic and political.
Trough out of history here and there similar positions have ocurred and the usual maner to resolve this has being what I fell that our president have done .
The use of the military power to conquer other rich countries and by that offset the economic balance.
History tend to repeat it self and how we deal with it can make the diference. our options will be reactive or proactive reactive can be sum as dealing with the problem as it has being done in the past. proactive can only happen when we know what it is at the stake and chosse to deal with in a inteligent, reasonable and if posible peaceful manner.
And mr Perot I comend you for at least putting the issues on the table,and if we become aware of thosse issues as a whole I urge my self and all of us to find solutions radicaly diferent than the ones
that members of the old scholl offer us.
Thank’s mr Perot you have done a very special thing by posting this charts and create this forum.
June 18th, 2008 at 9:29 pm
This is in response to Ken_Moyes (Post #62):
Let us not forget the other horror that was delivered onto the American people in 1913: Namely the creation of The Federal Reserve. A self-serving, privately owned entity that’s about as ‘Federal’ as Federal Express.
This was not the first attempt by the international banking scum to force a central bank on the US (the first two attempts failed). By allowing our monetary policy–and in turn our entire economy–to be run by civilian bankers instead of the Treasury, we’ve given them complete control over the path this country has taken in the past 95 years.
Now that every dollar in circulation is ‘born’ with an interest-bearing debt to the CIVILIAN Federal Reserve, we can NEVER be debt-free again unless or until the central bank is abolished and we return to a monetary standard with something behind it such as we had when on the gold standard. Congress and the administrations didn’t like the gold standard becaue it was too restrictive when it came to deficit-spending and that’s why it’s gone. Therein lies the real crux of the problem folks. Do your own research and you’ll see what I mean.
“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.”
Thomas Jefferson, Letter to the Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin (1802)
June 18th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
More charts and information on government collections and spending:
http://www.cbo.gov
http://cboblog.cbo.gov
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/eop
Good non-government site:
http://www.concordcoalition.org/issues/feddebt/index.html
June 19th, 2008 at 7:20 am
Who left the barn door open? I’ll tell ya who. WE ALL DID.
June 19th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
All this talk about the government and what it needs to do to reduce the national debt is smoke screen for the real problem. Do away with the federal reserve act and bring back the Greenbacks! The gold standard is not the answer either…..the gold market is cornered by the fed and the central banks.
Anyone who talks of doing away with the Federal Reserve or returning to Government created money receives no merit from the media (or ends up dead) because the media is owned by the same people on the board of the Federal reserve or the central banks or are in bed them.
The media plays the left against the right as a diversion so the people don’t figure out what is really happening until it is too late.
WAKE UP PEOPLE!
June 19th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Check out this link. It will leave you enlightened and angry
http://www.iamthewitness.com
June 19th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
This is a long-overdue website. It is refreshing to see someone take the initiative of presenting information in as objective a manner as possible.
But I think the potential for this site should extend beyond the presentation of facts and data and move into the area of application — making the correct use of the information as a basis for decision-making.
Just a suggestion: take this information, apply it against the different issues (Budget Deficit, Education, Federal Budget, etc.), and see where each presidential candidate’s positions and policies will most likely create a better end result for the country. No politics, no electioneering, no endorsing — just a plain and simple evaluation of each candidate’s pronounced stand(s) on each issue and the short- and long-term effects we can expect.
June 19th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
AMEN! COngratualtions to Ross Perot for his timing. In the current political climate he is a breath of fresh air. He was never anything less than a natio nal treasure.
Question, why can’t Social Security be actuarially funded? I am a retired local government worker who paid into Social Security for over 45 years (still paying) and for 30 years I paid 6% of my gross salary pre-tax into a local government retirement system… My former employer (the taxpayers) contributed a similar amonunt to both plans. Social Security is BROKE! Always has been, yet my retirement fund (State of Norht Carolina, Defined Benefit Plan) sends me a check monthly for more than I will ever see in a month from Social Security, and according to the latest public audits of the State’s retirement system the pension plan is 98% funded… That means if EVERYONE who has ever been a member of that fund retires and not another cent ever is paid into it, they have assets to meet 98% of their future liabilities until the last one of us dies! Social Security doesn’t have a single dollar in the bank right now… Just a pile of IOU’s from Congress.
My point is simple. There are working models of succesful retirement funds out there. WHy in the name of Heaven doesn’t the federal government implement them?
June 19th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
Customer Service Manager for a National Debt Settlement Company:
I believe that alot of focus needs to be made on Creditors (Bank of America, Citi Bank, Discover, American Express, Wells Fargo, Capital One, The HSBC Clan-Ge/hfc/etc,) and all you major Banks that sold 3yr mortgages like sharks knowing the consumers would NOT be able to requalify and force BK, Foreclosure. And you, yes you the same banks flat out turn down consumers not denying the debt any options within reach of the consumer.
I have heard personally and recorded that they would rather get a judgement and garnish, freeze banking, liens ultimately making consumers file for protection or seek me and settle.
If you simply allowed consumers a NON JUDGMENT status and options such settlement options at a later point. Yes you do work with me on a daily Basis but from the point of deliquent status they have in alot of cases 340 days before judgment is issued!
When consumers get Garnished, or have thier paychecks frozen, get fired from thier employment due to judgments…You must CHANGE THE CURRENT SYSTEM.
I have data, you name it and just ask!
June 20th, 2008 at 8:09 am
I have worked in the foodservice and hotel industry for 25 years. As with many other businesses, the cost to run a restaurant has gotten to the point, where many “mom and pop” places just wont make it any more. Only the large national brands will have a chance to survive with their huge buying power. Even still, the cost for food is skyrocketed over the past few years. As example, just a few months ago, our company purchased pork butts for $.79 per pound. As of June 2008, that same cut is now over $1.20 per pound. The reason given: cost of corn (feed) has gone up and fuel for transport has gone up. The demand for corn has gone up for energy use. This is only one example of what is going on. Margins are so tight, that many operators are cutting way back. Quality will suffer.
Seems to me that the solution is for the country to get back to basics and confront what really needs to be done.
First off, get Americans to buy American!
Get the gov’t out of the way and let business leaders solve the problem of creating energy solution and increased farming production.
Next, change the gov’t policy that we must be the police around the world and get the defence budget cut.
Then please, can we get the interest groups out of Washington DC starting with the pharm companies.
Really question how we raise taxes and get a value added tax on the planning board so we can rid of the IRS and the crazy money flows. Yes the gov’t needs money, but lets cut out all the drama and admin that goes with it.
gpg44
June 20th, 2008 at 11:38 am
1) America’s faltering education system is no better demonstrated than in suspicions revealed in several comments here. The CBO figures are as reliable as any other and not some phantom website that some commenters seem to rely on. If the “government” were trying to lie, how do you explain the CBO, made up of Republicans, Democrats and Independents, somehow coming to a consensus to befuddle all of us? If anything, they may wish to make the figures less damaging, which would mean that all of PerotChart’s wonderful presentation would be understating the problem Please realize when you are trying to make the facts fit your version of the truth. It’s not the facts that have to change.
2) The Clinton Administration did a pretty good job, but also please recall that we had a stock bubble, which created an enormous and unusual amount of wealth…around $7trillion new dollars…that resulted in an unusually high amount of tax revenue, which seems largely the only reason that budget surpluses occurred at a time that personal taxes were only increasing. This is a partisan-sounding comment, so in fairness, I think we have to note the Bush Administration’s deficits, however well intentioned spending may be, has been over the top. The momentum of borrowing may continue a few years, but it should be decreasing.
3) We’re not alone. The US debt of $9.2 trillion is around 65% of the $13.7 trillion annual GDP. That’s about the same as Canada and Australia, although those two countries have been improving over the last 10 years, with balanced budgets. Curiously, these two countries have had $4/gallon gas over that time, and their economies are very strong (yes, natural resources, but the US has them too). Euro countries collectively have a 200% ratio of debt to GDP…literally three times worse. It’s hard to imagine that China or Arab states would wish to use the Euro instead of the USD to price barrels of oil, but politics are sometimes strange. All of these facts are indirect to this website’s prime Presentation, but they help put our situation in some perspective. Is it a good thing we’re not as bad as Europe? I’m not sure it matters – we all seemed doomed to go over the cliff unless spending is reigned-in. Oh, by the way, most Asian nations like China, South Korea, Taiwan (we’ll call it a nation here) have essentially no debt and around 10% of their yearly GDP in gold reserves. And they don’t have the weight of entitlement programs.
4) Imagine a Perot/Paul ticket (not saying who’d be VP…we can work that out later). That’s so good, it might not even be too late for this election.
June 20th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
The present situation that “we the people” are in has been caused by the neglect from all who have voted over the past 4 decades. We are always compaining about “the government” did this or that. I am here to tell you that “we the people” are the government! We are responsible for voting in and keeping in nothing but “do good” slippery lawyers. Now that we have promised ourselves a great deal more that we can afford, it should be those same voters that take the largest hit. You and I both know, that is not what will transpire. AARP is the largest and most powerful lobby in DC as I type this message to you. They will brow beat any and every congressional twit into voting more undeserved money there way. The youth of America must also come together in their own organization to combat AARP and the status quo ASAP! The retiries should be the payors to their debt and should only recieve what is humanitarian.
Term limits
Fair Tax
Tort reform
Overhaul of general laws
June 20th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
Excellent work Ross. We missed you and need you.
You have always been a great one for turning problems into opportunities, so we look forward to things to come.
Other trends and forces could affect these projections, for example, energy costs. China, India, and other emerging countries have sustainable growth and demand. Oil dependency problems will only get worst.
Energy could be an opportunity for US – for example, if we are able to convert the auto industry to hydrogen or electrical. Suppose we could reduce average expenditures for gas from $250 per month to $100 per month. This would be a saving of $160M per year assuming 90,000 drivers. [The savings ratio increases every week as gas goes from $3/gallon to $4 to $10, etc. ] This would take a number of years but could make us more competitive and reinvent our ailing auto and tradition energy industries for even greater economic and competitive impacts. [Perhaps you could do an ‘Icahn’ on your old GM!].
June 21st, 2008 at 7:49 am
So, where is the chart that represents the spending in IRAQ????????????????
So, where is the chart that represents the BILLIONS of dollars ”missing” in IRAQ ??????
So, where is the chart that represents KBR contracts in IRAQ ???????????
Yeah, I know free market and big business can take care of all the ills if we’d just let them.
June 21st, 2008 at 10:28 am
We are, in fact, researching the costs of the Iraq war. When we have numbers that we believe are credible, we will publish a chart.
The Editor
June 21st, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Perot concludes that federal entitlement programs run amuck, like social security, linked to an aging population, as the primary cause of the economic problems facing the country today.
It de-emphasizes War as a major catalyst of our deficit spending, which may be empirically provable but like the rest of the analysis, plays into the hands of anyone wanting Americans to accept a decrease in their standard of living, increased taxes, and the imposition of significant austerity measures.
I found it very funny that Newt Gingrich had such high praise for the web site.
Perot also has a quote of support from the founder of the “Peter G. Peterson Foundation” (see website for the quote). Peterson is a former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and a Chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations.
At no point does Perot criticize the debt based monetary system or the policies (or existence for that matter) of the privately owned, for profit, Federal Reserve System and it’s itinerant inflationary policies.
I think it is very nice that Perot provides a free forum like this blog to accept criticism of his work, but I do hope that Perot considers in the future the broader ramifications of prescribing a band-aid to the damage done to America since the passage of the 1913 Federal Reserve Act, etc, etc.
June 21st, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Mr. Perot, Lord knows you have done more than you share of the work. Enough talk, how can I personally help you. I am sick and tired of this fiscally irresponsible government we currently have. Please don’t misunderstand me, I love this country, but it is our duty to hold our leaders accountable for their actions. “Asolute power absolutely corrupts”. It seems that the only time our political leaders listen to us is when they want our vote, after that only us who have privledged access ever have a voice. I hope and pray every day that there is someone worthy for you to pass the torch to.
Deeply Appreciative
David E. Harris
CEO Reconnaissance Technologies,INC.
June 21st, 2008 at 7:20 pm
Its funny how Ross Perot puts some charts up that are a dry factual account and people start politicizing it. Where the spending goes on (IRAQ or whatever) doesn’t matter. This is not a partisan issue and thank you Mr Perot for caring enough to bring it up in the current election. I wasn’t even voting age when you ran the first time, but I wish you would have been given a shot. Then maybe some real “change” would have occurred in Washington.
June 22nd, 2008 at 11:56 pm
Rather than pointing the finger at the media darlings such as the war in Iraq, the banks, or the oil companies, let’s really look at where our attention needs to be focused. It is congress! It does not matter whether you are a republican or a democrat or independent, congress has repeatedly failed to address and solve the issues. They are only interested in replacing one band aid with another, while they line their pockets with donations, increased income, and their private pension plan.
First fiasco, social security. For those that are not aware, please go back and do some research, this was nothing more than a Ponzi scheme by FDR. The age at which men could receive benefits was greater than the average lifespan of the american male at the time of its inception. All congress has done ever since is either extend the age of qualification or reduce benefits. This either has to be completely privatized along with removing the taxable income limit for this. I believe the current ceiling is $98,000 for an annual income. That needs to be eliminated and either a reduced percentage beyond that or continue the current level of taxes for income beyond the current ceiling.
Second, medicare. This just like social security has had benefits reduced and qualification extended since its inception. It is not the governments duty to take care of every individual citizen. Whatever happened to personal and fiscal responsibility? This plan has to be phased out and rather quickly. It will blled this country dry faster than social security.
Third, collection of unpaid taxes. If we really want to make a dent we have to go after the delinquents out there. Why should the responsible taxpayers have to continually pay the bill? Nobody ever mentions anything about how much is actually out there in uncollected taxes…NOBODY.
Fourth, Forbes had the right idea. A national sales tax on everything other than food. To accompany this, either slash or eliminate government subsidized programs. We also need to impose some restrictions on congress and their spending habits. It is not what can the representative do for their constituents anymore, but how are they helping our country stay in the black. Aren’t you tired of these rediculous studies done in the middle of nowhere for the lifespan of an ant and they receive $1,000,000 in funding for it? To accompany this one step further, we need to eliminate the piggy-backing of these stupid programs on some good ideas just to get a vote. The last time I checked that was extortion. At least in our world. We have to run this like a business now.
Fifth, forget a national healthcare. Keep it private. Before you freak out or think that I am totally insane, hear me out. Insurance companies can create a health care plan to run for an induviduals lifetime, they just do not want to. The plan would work like this. You would purchase a pool of money that would last you your lifetime and you would pay a level premium for the remainder of your lifetime or until the money has expired. for example, if someone purchased a pool of $5,000,000 and paid a level premium over 50 years, that would not be that much on a monthly basis. You would not have to worry about increasing rates or requalifying every year. Just for a reference, they already have something in place now that is very similar, it is long-term care. It works the same way as my idea. This can be done.
Sorry for being long-winded, but I am as just as fed up as the rest of you and want to see something done.
June 25th, 2008 at 12:54 am
Welcome Back Ross!
I sure have missed you!
If ever there was a time for you to run for President, it is now! The odds of your pulling off a victory are better today than ever before!
I voted for you in ’92 and ’96 and was a member of your Stealth Team in ’95-’96.
I am stunned by the thousands of people who brushed off and laughed when you told the nation about American jobs being at risk and how everyone will hear that giant sucking sound who have been talking about you for the past decade saying how you were right! My own brother repeats those words to me on the phone every time he hears on the news another large company moving to Mexico.
I was asked two decades ago if Americans deserve the type of government they have. I responded with most definitely, but I don’t! I made an informed decision and voted my conscience! I voted for you twice!
Age isn’t a factor in this presidential race when you consider John McCain’s age and how Ronald Regan ran for office when he was 80 years of age!
Everywhere I go I overhear people talk about you and wonder what happened to you and how they wish you would run again.
You were the one that told us in ’92 to take back our country! Well Ross, let’s do it! Run for president and we will do just that!
Nearly every member of congress has mimicked you for the past 16 years including this years presidential candidates!
When the republicans gained control of congress they put on a good show appearing on national television stating everyone of them were going to sign the “Contract with America” that was taken from the back of your book! Oh sure, they brought each issue up and discussed it, but that’s all they did! They breached their contact with Americans by not passing a single bill addressing a multitude of issues. All they gave Americans was lip service and today it’s not any difference. They merely tell Americans what they believe Americans want to hear. You on the other hand Ross, you told Americans like it was. You told the hard cold facts as to what would happen if Americans didn’t step up to the plate!
Now the very Americans who joked about the the giant sucking sound of jobs going to Mexico have now found themselves trapped in that vacuum. For years I said as long as some Americans are still getting their piece of the pie they will continue to go through life with blinders. Now that they have been brought to their knees, actually more like their ankles by losing their job, home, cars, etc. it’s a different story! It was their ignorance that brought them to their ankles. Had they listened to you Ross, they would still be standing on their own two feet and would still be employed.
Now a well known company Harley-Davidson is cutting back thousands of jobs. It is rumored that Honda is interested in purchasing Harley Davidson. If that happens most likely their main plant in York PA will be closed. The news media claims Harley Davidson will be moving to Mexico. I don’t see that happening at the moment. What I have heard is that Harley Davidson is planning on opening up a new plant in North Carolina, a right to work state where people earn just a tad over the minimum wage. Most of the baby boomers have purchased their dream recreation vehicle– a Harley Davidson motorcycle which they keep for about 20 to 25 years. Few baby boomers today purchase another Harley Davidson motorcycle.
In ’96 it was stated by some members of congress that Hershey would be moving to Mexico. No one thought that would happen and it did! The late Mr. Hershey would be extremely upset if he were alive to see what happened to his company that he built from the bottom up. Surely he is turning over in his grave today. Hershey was just another company who’s CEO and other VP’s became gerbils racing on the spinning wheel. Corporate executives earning millions of dollars and perks annually. It is impossible for them to spend all those millions of dollars in their lifetime! It’s time to call a screeching halt to this outrageous practice.
Come on back Ross where you belong! In the White House! Americans will settle for one term as you originally intended to serve in ’92.
God Bless You Always Ross! I’ll be praying hard that you listen to “We The People” and toss your hat into the ring!
July 6th, 2008 at 12:09 am
Thank you Mr. Perot for coming back on the scene.
Your first run for President was the first time I voted for an alternate candidate and I haven’t looked back since. I distrust anyone who runs under a major party flag (Democrat or Republican). I agree with the comments that they are playing games to dupe us into thinking we have a two-party system while they make their deals under the table.
All the interesting people who have commented here have stated things I’ve been thinking and wondering if I were missing something. It’s reassuring to think that I’m not alone. If we take personal responsibility to push this website out widely in our personal spheres of influence, we can make a difference.
My friends tell me that I just wasted my vote and that they (smart people that they are) didn’t waste theirs because they voted for the lesser of two evils.
It’s my observation that when you keep voting for evil, lesser or not, you keep getting evil in office. I’d rather cast an honest vote and send a message than support the status quo.
I’d like to see Alan Keyes considered in the Ross Perot, Ron Paul discussion. He has foreign policy experience and is a very intelligent, articulate, pro-Constitution man who also happens to be an African American. It’s time.
Sylvia, don’t be discouraged by the apparent low number. The site just went up June 16.
I agree we all need to forward the link to everyone in our email address books. Aren’t we 6 degrees away from anybody? I think we have a chance. Can’t we enlist the support of the conservative and alternative media (okay…slightly oxymoronic) and get the word out?
My passion is for the success of small businesses. They are the ones creating jobs. Unfortunately a lot of the owners are sophisticated and become victims of their lack of knowledge and willingness to manage their businesses more professionally. I tell people that I’m a recovering commercial Banker and now I work exclusively for business owners to fix their cash flow struggles and build the value of their companies. Americans need jobs. Small businesses need our attention if we are going to keep employment here in the U.S.
Don’t get me started on the illegal alien problem. Many of you have articulated it so well here. There are those tied to the same ethnic backgrounds as many illegal aliens who believe it is wrong to use that term. They would like for these people to be called “undocumented”. It is completely wrong for our Government to require U.S. citizens to be so thoroughly documented that others can steal our identities and then expect us to extend financial hospitality with no strings attached to non-citizens. This is NOT acceptable by any stretch of the imagination.
Why do I have to put my social security number on everything?
Why do I have to sign paperwork allowing my medical records to be passed around if I want treatment?
Why should I have to have my credit history part of the public domain? Why does my government make me opt out of having credit purveyors (and banks) use my personal credit information for their marketing purposes?
Why should I have to opt out of Internet tracking devices that document what I watch and then sell it to the highest bidder?
Yes, and why should my animals have to be injected with RFID? It’s not to protect us from bad meat. We have the USDA for that and if they fulfilled their original charter we wouldn’t have bad meat under recall. They have been bought off like so many other agencies.
As for medical care and its future impact on our budget — I think we have failed to solve the “health” care problem because we haven’t defined the problem or the question correctly. We don’t have a health care situation. We have a medical care situation. We have medical insurance that pre-determines who pays when we get sick or have an accident or an emergency. We have medical and pharmaceutical industries that only profit if we are not well, not healthy. We have collusion and fraud rampant in those industries. Our doctors have to have medical licenses. Our right to sell over-the-counter wellness technologies and herbs are threatened and yet 20-year-old marketing reps (with no medical training, just sales and marketing training) can provide medical doctors with their continuing education and these companies can financially reward doctors for prescribing their drugs. In the music industry (where no one dies) payolla is illegal but it is well-documented in the medical community. How bizarre.
Health care revolves around prevention and wellness and seeks approaches first that do no harm. We need to put a leash on the pharmaceutical-medical industrial complex. Congress has bought into their restraint of trade. The chemical-food-pharmaceutical industries are closely linked by common ownership at the global corporate level.
I also feel individuals should bear the responsibility for choices that come from their exercise of freedom. If a person smokes, they need to bear the medical consequences of their freedom of choice and not be allowed to pass it on to the public – their fellow citizens. This would apply to eating fat-sugary-salty non-nutrition and non-real-food diets. We have plenty of government funded studies that show the causes of many diseases and medical problems. If people do not choose to take care of their bodies they should not have free run at the medical subsidiary system we have in place. Of course we will run out of money doing it that way.
I could easily vote Constitutional Party – Libertarian Party – Independent Party…if we had someone like Perot, Paul, Keyes…I also think Kay Cole James should be considered for a running mate or cabinet position.
I’d like to see the citizens force the Congress to subscribe to zero-based budgeting. We have global companies with annual revenues that exceed the GDP of small countries. If they can be run for a “balanced budget” so can our country. I’m not prepared to believe it can’t be done.
However it is getting late. If ever middle-class, traditional, “documented” Americans were going to work to take back their country…this would be the Presidential and Congressional election to tackle.
I’m in. Tell me how to take these ideas and put them into action in an organized effective way.
Linda Heath
President, Financial Holographix
http://www.Financial-Holographix.com
July 8th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
It is a comfort to know that Ross can still be BOSS. Welcome back. Like others I can see where many had my same thoughts.
I see comments about charts that should be one thing or another. The chart or message I want to see is the chart showing the oil reserves we have in and around this country. The other charts are important but presently the oil thing needs immediate attention. Let us demand emergency legislation to start drilling the ‘Bakken” Oil Fields as soon as possible. Also rescind the laws and stumbling blocks that Congress has placed on our oil companies. Shame on Congress.
I will be happy to get back on the band wagon. I was looking for this site, I wonder why Google did not have this? Hmm, I wonder?
Bob Binzer
July 8th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Mr. Perot thank you for this incredible site that provides all those who know about it real numbers of what’s going on in our country. I just want to say I’m big on statistics, and it’s nice too know there are people like you who still care about people and this wonderful country we call the USA. May God always be in your heart and bless you and your family for all you do. I just want to say that when you ran for office many years ago I voted for you. I feel that a proven businessman like yourself should run the country, because you have one thing that many others lack and that is “Common Sense.” It’s good to know that someone with your wealth, knowledge and power cares, and is willing to defend the underdog!
Sincerely,
Mark A. Gonzalez
July 29th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
We need to start more drilling.
We have more oil than the Arabs. I was suggesting we show, by comparison the amount of oil we have in our county as compared to the Arab nations, and Canada too for that matter.
The recent publication by the US Geological Survey, shows we have the oil. According to our own Government figures we have 48.5 BILLION barrels of oil available. When you listen to the media one might think that we have no oil and must depend on the Arabs for the oil. The whole story is not told by the media.
Why are we not using the oil we have instead of importing from anyone? We did not have to depend on oil from any foreign country had Congress done the job we elected them to do. Instead Congress has blocked and discouraged our oil companies from drilling our oil. Now why would Congress not want better prices at the pump? Could it be revenue? They take 25% off gross purchases. Our oil would cost less than $16./bbl and we see oil at $120./bbl or more now. Is it the fact that our revenue is more using the $120./bbl oil than it would be at $16/bbl oil? Of course it is, more spending money.
We need to show who is causing this dilema. Congress could have done something a long time ago. It is a crime to allow this to happen when it did not have to happen.
You hear the cry, ” we must wean ourselves off the foreign oil”, and “we are spoiled and waste oil with our gas guzzling vehicles, or we drive too much” When people begin to realize that we had the oil, and Congress has not allowed us to use our own oil, there are going to be a lot of unhappy voters out there. A record showing all the stumbling blocks and delays Congress has manufactured, to keep oil prices high. Is going to look pretty bad for Congress. We need to show who was causing this nighmare.
One of the most precious part of our freedom is being able to drive our cars for our own pleasure, when we want to and where we want to go, and of course to support our necessities as well. With oil a reasonable price we would have saved many companies that have had to close, many truckers that have had to hang it up because of the outlandish cost of our fuel. Our economy would have not taken the downturn we see at this time. It is a disgrace. It is a crime.
You will hear Global Warming! BS, this is another swindle, if hydrocarbons were causing global warming we would have never made it to 1945. When we all burned coal in our homes, factories and railroads we had things worse than today. So forget glogal warming as an excuse for less driving. It was proved that the report Gore has used for this scam, was false, it was kept very quiet, the man who found the errors was given a Nobel Prize for his efforts.
If we do not do something about it, things will get worse.
Robert D. Binzer
Madison, Indiana
812-273-1478