I am glad that the vast overhaul of the Health care system has been slowed to a crawl. Sadly it does keep moving forward but has gotten bogged down in procedure and language that have a chance of killing it off. The last thing this country needs is another giant welfare program that is funded by higher taxes, bigger government and a vast expansion in spending. Many thousands of hours have gone into debates from Washington to Main Street. Imagine if Congress and the government devoted the same time and energy wasted on Health care to actually solving the deficit spending and massive borrowing. They didn't though.

Spending continues on both sides of the isle at breakneck speed. Just this week, there was a request to increase Education spending by $1 billion, $500 million for 'emergency' agriculture spending, $10 billion to extend jobless benefits (plus a pile of pork projects and 'critical' infrastructure needs), An unspecified amount for relief in Haiti and Chile. All of those items sailed through both houses of congress with broad support and very little opposition. Problem is, we have no money to be spending. Fully 34% of the 2010 budget is deficit (borrowed) spending. As if that isn't bad enough, now we have added more to it. Within a few weeks, congress will work through a $70 billion 'jobs' bill. It contains all the same kind of spending as the year old stimulus package but it looks nearly certain to pass. Never mind that 45% of the original monies for the stimulus have not yet been spent. Never mind that banks and Insurance companies have paid billions back to "the fed" and all that money is just sitting there (not being repaid to the treasury). Never mind that we are over $14 trillion in debt (a bit over $45,000 for every man woman and child in the United States). The average family of four now owes over $180,000 in debt that the government has spent on their behalf. The interest payments alone this year are around $100 billion!!

We HAVE to stop. This means broad cuts in Social Security, government pensions, Medicare, Medicaid, Education, NASA, foreign aid, the military and everywhere else money is spent. I realize that many individuals paid into the 'system' for many years and now they are dependent on it. That hurts - hurts bad. That is definitely not fair. But we as a nation just have to face the fact that we have all been lied to. The system was poorly designed and not sustainable. For many year's we have been warned that the system is out of balance and approaching failure. We just cannot afford to make those payments anymore. Not without massive new taxes. We are already one of the most taxed (per capita) nations on the planet. A nearly 50% increase in federal taxes is just not the answer.

I am sure my statements above are already making some of you squirm. I know because the thought of it makes me squirm. The collective groan of the beneficiaries of many programs will be loud and painful across the board. Still, its got to be done. We are broke.