Democrat aim to increase debt limit is wakeup call to U.S. taxpayer

Commentary by Kay B. Day

Had it not been for Republican Scott Brown’s historic victory in Massachusetts, the Democrat Party’s aim to increase the U.S. debt limit might take the top spot in the blogosphere right now. The Associated Press said on Wednesday the government needs “an additional $1.9 trillion to pay its bills, a record increase that would permit the national debt to reach $14.3 trillion.”

If the country had a platform for a national town crier, that $1.9 trillion figure would be shouted at the top of his lungs. [Article continues below graphic.]

The US Treasury provides the public with information about US debit and who holds it.
The truly disturbing element in this request is a complete lack of attention to downsizing the federal government. The only way to avoid continuing to raise the debt limit is to do what the private sector does in hard times—reduce expenses. There are exceptions, of course. Crony corporations get bailouts. Taxpayers fund those too, and we hear politicians tell us we’ll get our money back. How?

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Congress' nightmare: CAGW Pig Book reveals federal spendthrifts

Citizens Against Government Waste came up with this catchy mascot and slogan to raise awareness of federal spendthrifts.This morning taxpayer watchdog groups spoke from the National Press Club about government spending; the program aired on C-SPAN. I was about to catch David Williams’ remarks when the Florida storms killed our power for the umpteenth time. Williams, policy vice-president for Citizens Against Government Waste, puts the organization’s annual Pig Book together. Also on the program was Tom Schatz, CAGW president. CAGW also had the group’s official mascot, a large pink pig character, on hand and a new slogan, ‘Where’s Pigfoot?’ will hopefully draw attention to ongoing offenses committed by spendthrifts in the US Congress.

CAGW said, “The 2009 Pig Book identified 10,160 projects at a cost of $19.6 billion in the 12 Appropriations Acts for fiscal 2009. A pork project is a line-item in an appropriations bill that designates tax dollars for a specific purpose in circumvention of established budgetary procedures.” To qualify as pork, an item must satisfy at least 2 of 7 criteria:

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