Amerika - Government By Terror, Torture and Tyranny

 by Stephen Lendman

America governs lawlessly. Out-of-control rogues run things. Conditions go from bad to worse. Tyranny threatens everyone. So does possible global war.

Fear-mongering, saber rattling, hot wars, proxy ones, drone ones, geopolitical ones, financial ones, anti-populist ones, mass incarceration, censorship, lawless sanctions, subversion, sabotage, targeted assassinations, mass murder, cyber-war, and horrific draconian harshness reflect out-of control governance gone mad.

Lying is official policy. So is state terror. Independent governments aren’t tolerated. They’re targeted. Regime change is prioritized. World peace is threatened. Humanity’s menaced. Survival’s uncertain.

Daily revelations explain more. War is called peace. State-sponsored assassins are called freedom fighters. Real ones are called terrorists.

Capital has divine rights. Monied interests run things. Plundering the earth for profit is prioritized. Popular needs go begging. Social America’s dying. Poverty, unemployment, hunger, homelessness and human misery go unaddressed. Corporate rights alone matter.

Democracy’s a four-letter word. Out-of-control power is unaccountable. Rule of law principles are mocked. Tyranny’s the law of the land. Advancing America’s imperium matters most.

Workers are exploited. They’re unprotected. Human and civil rights are sacrificed. Wealth, power and privilege are served. Militarized control supports them. Nonbelievers aren’t tolerated.

Torture is official policy. Gitmo is America’s public face. Innocent detainees suffer. So do many others. Thousands of political prisoners fill America’s gulag. It’s the world’s largest. It operates globally. Mercy isn’t in Washington’s vocabulary.

Diktat power rules. Police state terror threatens everyone. Freedom’s fast disappearing. Dissent’s not tolerated. Heroic whistleblowers are criminalized.

Even retired four star generals aren’t safe. More on that below.
Journalists are spied on. So is everyone worldwide. Big Brother watches everyone. It’s no longer fiction.

Censorship prevents truth and full disclosure. Managed news misinformation substitutes. Students are debt entrapped for life. Millions have no futures. An entire generation’s lost.

Madness substitutes for sanity. Unconscionable wrongdoing persists. America’s unsafe to live in. Oblivion awaits. Most people are too out of touch to notice. Others are dismissive.

Failure to act responsibly matters. It lets Washington get away with murder and much more.

Rogues running America take full advantage. Who knows what’s next.

The Pentagon’s former second in command’s being investigated. General James (Hoss) Cartwright allegedly leaked information higher ups want suppressed.

Cyberwar is official US policy. In spring 2010, Iranian intelligence discovered Stuxnet malware contamination. Its Bushehr nuclear facility was affected. US/Israeli cyber-war bore full responsibility.

Cartwright perhaps explained. He ran cyber-operation Olympic Games. Obama ordered stepped up attacks. Targeting Iran is prioritized.

Perhaps there’s hope if retired four star generals become whistleblowers. Maybe other insiders will be emboldened to act. Legions more than ever are needed. Hopefully many will come forward responsibly.

Edward Snowden provided a vital service. He’s a hero in his own time. He’s globally recognized. He deserves praise, not prosecution. History won’t forget him. He revealed what everyone needs to know.

Unprecedented global spying is official US policy. It’s lawless. Spies “R” us defines it. Police states operate this way. America’s by far the worst. It’s unmatched in human history. No one’s safe anywhere any time.

Shoot the messenger. Snowden’s hunted. He’s a wanted man. Washington wants him arrested. It wants him prosecuted. It wants him imprisoned. It wants him silenced. Perhaps it wants him dead.

It wants information he knows suppressed. London’s Guardian revealed it. It plans telling more. On June 28, it headlined “US army blocks access to Guardian website to preserve ‘network hygiene.’ ”

It wants truth suppressed. It wants its message alone circulated. “The US army has admitted to blocking access to parts of the Guardian website for thousands of defense personnel across the country.”

“A spokesman said the military was filtering out reports and content relating to government surveillance programs to preserve ‘network hygiene’ and prevent any classified material appearing on unclassified parts of its computer systems.”

Pentagon officials lied. Censorship is official US policy. NETCOM On-Line Communication Services operates from San Jose, CA. It’s an Internet service provider.

Spokesman Gordon Van Vleet said it filtered “some access to press coverage and online content about NSA leaks.”

“The Department of Defense routinely takes preventive ‘network hygiene’ measures to mitigate unauthorized disclosures of classified information onto DoD unclassified networks.”

An Army Network Enterprise Technology Command (NETCOM) spokesman said policy affects hundreds of defense facilities. Doing so suggests far worse future policy.

Washington may block anti-government content. It may do so routinely. Alternative media sites may be targeted. Vital truths more than ever may be suppressed.

Revealing them responsibly risks being criminalized. So may discussing what’s already known. Pointing fingers the right way is dangerous. Doing so risks being charged with aiding and abetting America’s enemies.

Van Vleet added:

“We make every effort to balance the need to preserve information access with operational security, however there are strict policies and directives in place regarding protecting and handling classified information.”

“Until declassified by appropriate officials, classified information – including material released through an unauthorized disclosure – must be treated accordingly by DoD personnel. If a public website displays classified information,” blocking it will follow.

“Classified” includes vital information people have a right to know. Suppressing it reflects police state harshness. Rogue states operate this way. It bears repeating. America’s by far the worst.

According to an unnamed Pentagon spokesman:

“The Guardian website is NOT being blocked by DoD. The Department of Defense routinely takes preventative measures to mitigate unauthorized disclosures of classified information onto DoD unclassified networks.”

On June 25, Guardian editors headlined “Edward Snowden: in defense of whistleblowers,” saying:

He’s no traitor. America’s First Amendment matters. It “prevents prior restraint and affords a considerable measure of protection to free speech.”

Obama violates its letter and spirit. He’s done so by “show(ing) a dismaying aggression in not only criminalizing leaking and whistle blowing, but also recently placing reporters under surveillance – tracking them and pulling their phone and email logs in order to monitor their sources for stories that were patently of public importance.”

Thanks to Snowden, we know more about what NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake called “a vast, systemic institutionalized, industrial-scale Leviathan surveillance state that has clearly gone far beyond the original mandate to deal with terrorism.”

Snowden is today’s Daniel Ellsberg. Releasing the Pentagon Papers got him targeted. He also faced Espionage Act charges.

He might have gotten life in prison. He was lucky. Gross government misconduct saved him. His 1973 trial collapsed. At the time, judge William Byrne, Jr. ruled:

“The totality of the circumstances of this case which I have only briefly sketched offend a sense of justice.”

“The bizarre events have incurably infected the prosecution of this case.”

Federal judges today don’t speak this way. Ellsberg later said:

“The public is lied to every day by the President, by his spokespeople, by his officers.”

“If you can’t handle the thought that the President lies to the public for all kinds of reasons, you couldn’t stay in the government at that level”

“The fact is Presidents rarely say the whole truth – essentially, never say the whole truth – of what they expect and what they’re doing and what they believe and why they’re doing it and rarely refrain from lying, actually, about these matters.”

Ellsberg’s a modern day hero. So is Snowden. Washington fears ugly truths revealed. Doing so arouses public anger.

Perhaps it emboldens others to tell more. Coming forward threatens America’s imperial ambitions. Preventing them responsibly matters most.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-06-30/guest-post-america-government-terror-torture-and-tyranny

The system is rigged: 5 Things Nobody Tells You About Being Poor

Guest Post: 5 Things Nobody Tells You About Being Poor
By John Cheese

Foul Language Sanitised by [Annonie-Mouse]



Being poor is like a game of poker where if you lose, the other players get to [take advantage of] you. And if you win, the dealer [takes advantage of] you. A bunch of you reading this are among the 45 million “working poor” in America, and if you’re not, you know somebody who is. Like me.

I’m not blaming anybody but myself for getting into this situation and I’m not asking for anybody’s sympathy. What I am saying is that people are quick to tell you to pick yourself up by your bootstraps and just stop being poor. What they don’t understand is the series of intricate financial traps that makes that incredibly difficult.

If you’re not poor, that’s awesome. I’m not mad at you, or jealous. Hopefully you’ll never find out that …

#5. You Get Charged for Using Your Own Money

This is the future, where many businesses no longer accept cash as payment. That means you are required to have a checking account to function in the economy. And if you’re poor, that means at some point you’re going to get bank-[taken advantage of]. 

Because having a checking account while poor doesn’t just mean you have to be responsible and good at math — you have to be perfect. Meticulous, flawless record keeping is the difference between surviving and having the bank seize your next paycheck.

Let’s say you’re running late for work and hurriedly stop to get gas, paying with a bank card. In your haste you forget to write the $55 down (gas being $4 a gallon, you know). So while you spent the last week until payday thinking you had $50 in your account to absorb minor purchases, you actually were $5 in the red. 

So payday comes. You go to the bank to deposit your check, at which point the bank takes it, sticks it in their pocket and says, “Thank you very much! I’m buying myself a new pair of shoes with that [money]!” They then inform you that your account was at -$200 at the moment you deposited your check. 

The bank can hit you with a $35 fine for every charge that comes in while you are in minus territory. The bank will not tell you they charged you this money. You will have no idea anything is wrong. 

It’s a silent chain reaction in which every charge that comes through during those few days before payday draws the $35 fee. The $8 you spent at the gas station for cigarettes, the $24.99 that automatically comes out for your Internet access … for each, the bank silently zaps out the charge and $35 on top of it, until your next paycheck is gone. Five seconds of oversight gave the bank the right to take away a week’s worth of your labor. 

Some of you are saying, “Fine, just tell the bank to go [jump in a lake]. Walk out the door and just do everything by cash or money order.” Ah, but now when you get paid, you have to go somewhere to cash your paycheck — and businesses charge up to $8 to do it. If you’re working in the service industry, congratulations — an hour of your labor just vanished … just so you could use your own money. Some describe this as a “poverty tax.” Others refer to it as [explicitaves] 

The one piece of advice I can offer here is that you’ll be surprised how many businesses will give you some leeway if you just call them and beg. Banks are run by human beings (as of the writing of this article) and if you get a person on the phone you can get them to waive overdraft fees, particularly if it’s a first offense. Even businesses waiting on a payment will give you an extra week or two if you call and explain it. In this economy, they’re so used to people just taking the money and disappearing that they’re happy to hear you’re operating in some kind of good faith.

Otherwise, you’re going to be in a bind. And this is when you’ll find out …

#4. There is an Industry That Profits by Keeping You Poor

Think you’re too smart to ever use one of those shady “payday loan” places? Well, you should know that nobody thinks they’re a good deal. People go there because they’re choosing between which [Service] provides the [Least downside].

Say the gas bill is a month past due, and they’re threatening to turn it off (if so, it’s $150 to get it reconnected). Or you’re about to be late on a credit card payment (which would be a fee and a doubling of your interest rate). Or your favorite [TV] broke, and [a Sesame Street TV Marathon] is coming up. That is when you find yourself swallowing your pride and heading to the payday loan place. 

A standard 14-day “payday” loan charges $15.50 per $100 borrowed. So a $500 loan ends up being $577.50 (or 1.5 tanks of gas in interest). But if you don’t have it after 14 days, that’s fine — they offer to extend your loan to 180 days. It makes the payments minuscule. Oh, and you’ll be paying back $1,275 at 403.10 percent APR. 

Yes, you got [taken advantage of], in the name of your financial [institution] avoiding the credit card company’s [more harsh financial penalties]. And it’s a [heck] of a lot better than going over on your checking account again and starting up their infinite circular [financial catch 22].

All right, let’s say you wised up. You save and cut back. You resist an offer to, say, buy a computer on Best Buy’s finance plan, because you’re too smart to take on more debt. And no monthly cell phone payments for you, oh no. You’re not going to put yourself in a hole again!

Congratulations. You just did. It turns out …

#3. No Credit Can be Just as Damaging as Bad Credit

On the spectrum of financial responsibility, from “that billionaire who drives an old Dodge Dakota” down to “MC Hammer,” you’d think that the next step up from being overdue on a bunch of bills would be to have no bills at all. Don’t buy it if you can’t afford it, right? 

You’ll find out the problem the next time somebody does a credit check — having no credit will stop you from getting a loan or an apartment just as fast as having bad credit. And more importantly, if you have old bad credit due to a bunch of previous [unfortunate financial decisions], simply vanishing off the credit map doesn’t do anything to fix it.

t took me six months to find a place to rent after applying for every property that appeared in the paper across five towns. I was denied each time. It was my lack of credit due to years of me and lenders deciding to just stay out of each other’s hair, like those old sitcoms where roommates would draw a line down the middle of the house. I even used a prepaid cell phone where I’d just be buying minutes off the shelf rather than get locked into a contract with all those termination fees and [stuff]. When I needed something big, like a computer upgrade or furniture, I’d wait for a windfall, like a tax return, and pay cash. It’s called financial responsibility, [people]!

Nope. It turns out that to a business, a customer with no credit is like a girl giving you the silent treatment — they assume something is wrong. 

And everybody checks your credit — if I want to get Direct TV, I have to pay $310 worth of startup fees (the size of your up-front payments/deposits depends on your credit history). 

Utilities are even more — which means trying to move to a new place costs hundreds of dollars in deposits (remember the $150 to get my gas turned on). If I need a new car, well, let’s just say I need to show up at the dealership with a shoebox full of cash. 

So repairing credit means opening accounts (having a cell phone plan is a good one, having your utilities in your own name — as opposed to the landlord’s — is another) and, you know, making sure to pay your [finacial] bills on time. And don’t bother trying to shortcut the system by saving the shoebox full of cash, getting a loan, then paying it all off the next month. Length of credit is part of your credit score. They want to know your ability to make steady, long term payments without missing a month or being late

#2. Your Next Expensive Disaster is Always Around the Corner

[Stuff] happens, always at the exact worst time. A tire blows on my car and, without a spare, it instantly becomes a paperweight. There’s $80 for a new tire, $50 for a tow. Now, it’s a good idea to have a separate bank account set up specifically for these situations because they are unavoidable. It’s also a good idea to have a [winning lotto ticket in yout back pocket]. It’s not that simple. 

You get the same domino effect with sudden financial disasters as you do with the bank fees. For instance, I worked a [undesirable] service industry job, which meant I got paid by the hour, and didn’t get paid unless I showed up — no paid time off. But I couldn’t physically get to work because of the [unfortunate] flat tire. It’s a rural area, no subway or buses. So it’s double [unfortunate] — not just lost work time, but lost time that is spent paying for a tow and a tire. And if I didn’t happen to have that money sitting around, it meant waiting until payday, and missing work until then. 

Which meant my next paycheck would be short. By the time I get it fixed and add in the missed work time, that $80 tire just turned into a $250 [problem]. That’s life in a world with no financial margin for error. It’s like trying to climb out of a [hole and only falling deeper in]. 

Years ago, we bought a house with the help of our in-laws. You know, because owning property is the responsible adult thing to do. The very first [glorious] night of moving in, we got a massive water leak. I couldn’t just call the landlord — I was the landlord. I couldn’t call a plumber because we didn’t have the $150 to pay the guy, not until payday. So the leak was allowed to run until we could put the money together to pay one. So two weeks later, we hand the guy $150. And then, a week later, the water bill arrives. 

You find yourself thinking, “Man, we could get caught up if this bad [stuff] wouldn’t keep happening!” Then it finally hits you that bad [stuff] happens like clockwork. Not because God hates you, but because you’re poor and you’re using cheap [things] that break. Maybe you don’t pay the $150 for a plumber, but have a handy friend fix it for you for $50. Awesome, you saved $100! Then six months later you have a leak again, because it turns out he fixed it with rubber bands and Fruit Roll-ups. 

Everything in a poor person’s life is a cash vampire. My truck has 170,000 miles on it and the MPG is so bad that every time I start it, the ghost of an Indian appears in the passenger seat and cries. About twice a year, something under the hood grinds to a halt or melts — always another $500 on a tow and repairs. And that was the money I was saving to get a more reliable car. 

[Heck], even my own body does it to me. I lost my last job because of chronic back pain, losing my health insurance in the process. Which means I can’t treat my chronic back pain. Can’t afford to get dentist check-ups, so more expensive problems are allowed to grow and fester. And so on.

#1. You’re Always in Survival Mode

There’s a phrase in the working world that drives me crazy. One guy says, “The money’s not great, but I love my job.” And somebody responds, “Hey, happiness is all that really matters.” 

To be clear, that’s probably true for people at a certain level of income. If you aren’t struggling to pay the bills, then happiness is indeed a pretty [darned] awesome extra. But you know those movies like American Beauty, about the guy with the unfulfilling career who abandons it to live life to its fullest? Yeah, don’t forget that after quitting their jobs they still come home to houses that look like [Cape Cod]. 

But down here, at this level, you take what you can [be fortunate enough to] get. Fantasies about holding out for that dream job will ruin you. 

For instance, long before reading to this part, some helpful commenter has surely skipped down and chimed in with, “Why don’t you just get a job, you lazy [person]!” Wait, did you think I was unemployed? [Heck] no, it’s been years since I was out of work for any long period of time. I’ve always had jobs. [Lousy, Lousy] jobs. 

A huge chunk of this economy runs on shitty jobs now. Recently, McDonald’s held a job fair with 50,000 openings. They got more than 1,000,000 applications. Tens of millions of you will wind up in one of these jobs, it’s sheer math. 

These service jobs pay hourly, they give you little or nothing in terms of benefits and there is nothing in the way of security even from week to week — your hours could get cut at any time, for any reason. Sure, you can take a second part-time job. Though, that’s assuming you can find one that works around your primary job’s schedule — just mentioning that you have another job in an interview is often enough to stop that interview mid-sentence. Why hire you when there are 30 guys in line behind you with completely free schedules? 

So in answer to the inevitable, “You need to dream bigger, and strive forth to get a new career for yourself!” Hey, I totally agree. But now we’re back in the Catch-22 poverty [situation]. Once you’re in this tier of jobs, getting out isn’t just hard, it’s expensive. 

Sure, you can take classes at night at a community college or something. Maybe you’ll even get financial aid or loans to pay for your books or tuition. What they will not pay for is the time you missed at work while you were in classes or for a babysitter or for transportation. And you sure as [heck]better be certain that you have some kind of aptitude for whatever you’re studying (which, by the way, you won’t know until you’ve spent a year or two studying it) because that’s the only chance you’re going to get. 

You can do it the old-fashioned way, by working your way up the corporate ladder from within whatever [lousy] job you have. But that is also expensive because promotions often require you to move. I got offered a promotion at my [lousy] service job (washing semi trucks with high-pressure hoses, the job that eventually destroyed my back) that would have required me to move several hours away. And moving costs money — remember what I said about the cost of getting utilities turned on? And how landlords check your credit? 

And then there are the intangible costs. I would be abandoning my children, for instance — I share custody with my ex-wife, who obviously was not going to be moving with me. How many visits would I get in before my car broke down? And moving away from friends and family also comes with a cost — think of the favors you do for each other (i.e. the friend/brother/uncle willing to fix the truck for free, because you helped paint his porch, etc).

It’s not impossible, but it’s taking a huge risk. And if the new job doesn’t work out after you bet all of your chips, you’re triple [unfortunate].  And at that point the world will wag its finger at you and tell you how irresponsible it was to move when you were so poor. “Ha, you poor people are always doing stupid [things] like that!”

And on and on. People do get out of this situation — I got paid to write this, for instance. All I’m saying is that the journey is something like trying to go from the Earth to the Moon.




** WARNING:  Original link contains significant amounts of language that is NSFW. **

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-06-13/guest-post-5-things-nobody-tells-you-about-being-poor

Is this the next phase of persecution for those who do not support Obama?

It is no secret that the IRS has and is persecuting people for their political beliefs. It is also clear that Veterans are under persecution by DHS which on their list as likely terrorists. The below video is of a genuine authentic document that the government admits is real and exists. Is this the next phase of persecution for those who do not support Obama?


The following video details the contents of a department of defense document entitled "Internment and Resettlement operations" also known as FM 3-39.40.  The document is 325 pages long and is signed by Joyce E Morrow, administrative assistant to the Secretary of the Army.

It was created in 2010, however, it has just been recently leaked to the public via the internet and can now be downloaded from multiple sources.  In the description below you will find the download link for the document.  I strongly encourage you to download it yourself and verify everything that is being said here.

Highlights:

* Applies within US territory
* Addresses the detainment of US citizens
* SSN are to be recorded along photographs and fingerprints
* Cooperating agencies are listed as DHS, FEMA, DOD, and the UN
* Includes psychological operations officers to "identify malcontents, trained agitators, political leaders" and to "develop and executes indoctrination programs to reduce or remove antagonistic attitudes"
* Lists conditions for use of lethal force including terminating escape attempts
* snipers during riots for apprehension and fire lethal rounds.
* Shows basic layout for containment including interrogation area and mortuaries, double barb-wire fences, watched over by 24 guard towers.
* US Army has been running job ads for positions in these facilities since 2009.
* Created in 2010 under Obama Administration.
* Predates the NDAA of 2012 with authorizes the military detainment of US citizens - clearly showing a long term agenda at work


http://beforeitsnews.com/obama/2013/06/leaked-obama-document-is-this-the-next-phase-after-irs-tea-party-persecution-2452322.html

Death panels in action

By: John Hayward

“Someone lives and someone dies,” shrugged Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, when passing bureaucratic judgment upon the life of a 10-year-old Pennsylvania girl who will die in a matter of weeks unless she gets a lung transplant.  And a lot of someones owe Sarah Palin a huge apology for doubting her prescient warning about “death panels.”

Sarah Murnaghan has Cystic Fibrosis and is fighting for her life at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia as she awaits a life-saving lung transplant. Doctors believe she has only a few weeks to live.

The Department of Health and Human Services mandated that organ allocation policies must be based on medical need rather than waiting time or other considerations.

[Although] Sarah’s need is acute, because she is only 10 and not 12, she can’t [even] be on the list to receive an adult organ. Pediatric organ donors are in short supply and there is little chance that Sarah will receive a pediatric lung in time.

[PA Senators Pat Toomey and Pat Meehan, who are soliciting the DHS on Sarah's behalf,] are not asking for an exemption for Sarah, but rather asking the Secretary to follow rules available to her now. The lawmakers wrote that the Secretary has two options specified in the existing policy governing the organ transplant network. She can set aside the under-12 policy on an emergency basis. Or she can direct the organ donor network to conduct a pilot program to add to the research about the suitability of adult organs transplanted into children.

' We’re going to let a kid die over red tape. Somebody needs to stand up and say this isn’t right. This is a human issue this isn’t politics.’

http://www.humanevents.com/2013/06/05/hhs-secretary-refuses-to-save-dying-girl-someone-lives-and-someone-dies/

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Austerity has not failed!

AUSTERITY MYTH
By: John Stossel

Europe’s struggles prove that “austerity” fails!

So say the Big Spenders.


With a condescending sigh, they explain that Europe made deep cuts in government spending, and the result was today’s high unemployment. “With erstwhile middle-class workers reduced to picking through garbage in search of food, austerity has already gone too far,” writes Paul Krugman in The New York Times.

One problem with this conclusion: European governments didn’t  cut! If workers pick through garbage, cuts can’t be a reason, since they didn’t happen.

That doesn’t stop leftists from complaining about cuts or stop Europeans from protesting announced austerity plans. But if austerity means spending less, that hasn’t happened.

Some European countries tried to reduce deficits by raising taxes. England slapped a 25 percent tax increase on the wealthy, but it didn’t bring in the revenues hoped for. Rich people move their assets elsewhere, or just stop working as much.

If politicians honestly want to boost their nation’s economies, they should look to what happened in countries that bounced back from economic slumps.

Iceland was hit by bank collapses — but government ignored street protests and cut real spending. Iceland’s budget deficit fell from 13 percent of gross domestic product to 3. Iceland’s economy is now growing.

Canada slashed spending 20 years ago and now outranks the U.S. on many economic indicators.

Around the same time, Japan went the other way, investing heavily in the public sector in an attempt to jump-start its economy, much as the U.S. did with “stimulus” under President Obama. The result? Japan’s economy stagnated.

The left now claims Japan didn’t stimulate “enough.”

In the U.S., politicians imply spending limits would be “cruel” because vital programs are “cut to the bone.” But we are nowhere near bone.

Consider this family budget:

Annual Income —- $24,500
Annual Spending —- $35,370
New Credit Card Debt —- $10,870
Existing Debt —- $167,600

When I show that to people, they laugh and say the family is “irresponsible.” They are dismayed when I point out that those are really America’s budget numbers, with eight zeros removed:

Revenue —- $2,450,000,000,000
Spending —- $3,537,000,000,000
Deficit —- $1,087,000,000,000
Debt —- $16,760,000,000,000

Then people say: “That’s terrible! We have to balance the budget.”

Actually, we don’t need to “balance” it. We just need to slow spending growth to about 2 percent a year, so the economy can gain on our debt. But politicians won’t do even that.

I understand why. I ask people who say they are horrified by America’s debt, “What would you cut?” Most have no clue. They just stare. Some say things like, “Don’t cut education!”

C’mon. Federal bureaucrats spend $3.7 trillion! But most people can’t think of anything to cut?

When businesses face budget shortfalls, they can’t just give speeches about how much they care about fiscal responsibility — at least not for long. They must make real cuts. When they do, they often prosper. Years back, IBM and GE each laid off 100,000 workers. People were furious. But thanks to those cuts, the companies survived.

If the politicians don’t know what to cut, they should just accept Sen. Rand Paul’s proposed budget. Among other things, he would cut four Cabinet-level agencies: Commerce, Housing and Urban Development, Energy and Education. Why not? We don’t need a Commerce Department. Commerce just … happens. Education is funded by the states. The Energy Department gives money to politicians’ cronies.

I’d go further than Paul. Why do we need an Agriculture Department? Agriculture is done by farmers, not bureaucrats. Why do we need a Labor Department? And so on. All those things are better handled by a free market. I wish we had a real free market in America.

Government recently revised its dire forecasts about America’s coming bankruptcy. The numbers are a little better than once thought.

But make no mistake: As people my age retire and demand Medicare, America will eventually go broke.

The first step toward a solution is just being honest about the deep hole we’re in — giving up on the lie that governments elsewhere failed with “austere” budgets. They haven’t.

http://www.humanevents.com/2013/06/05/austerity-myth/