Why Is U.S. Government Spending So Wildly Out Of Control?

As the world watches in horror as the financial nightmares in Greece, Spain and Portugal unfold, most Americans are oblivious to the fact that a great day of financial reckoning is soon coming to the United States as well.  The truth is that the United States is not “the richest nation in the world” anymore.  What the United States actually has become is the biggest debtor in the history of the planet.  In our lust for the “good life” and the American Dream we have spent ourselves into a financial black hole from which there is no escape.  U.S. government spending has been wildly out of control for decades, but over recent months Obama, Pelosi, Reid and their cohorts have taken things to an entirely new level.  Certainly it cannot be denied that the Bush administration badly mismanaged America’s national finances, but budget deficits during his administration were generally in the three to five hundred billion dollar range. (Read More...)

Is It Fair For The U.S. Government To Give Money To Some People (But Not To Others) To Help Them Pay Their Mortgages?

Millions upon millions of Americans are struggling with paying their bloated mortgages right now.  So is it fair for the U.S. government to be giving money to some people (but not to others) to help them pay their mortgages? Well, it turns out that U.S. citizens in 10 states will soon be receiving money as part of a $2.1 billion federal program to help distressed homeowners pay their mortgages.  But is this fair?  Why will only citizens in 10 states by getting funds?  What about the other 40 states?  Well, the money for this mortgage relief program is going to come from a special fund within the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) known as the “Housing Finance Agency Innovation Fund for the Hardest Hit Housing Markets”.  In other words, people in the areas where housing prices have fallen the most are going to get help living the American Dream, and everyone else is out of luck. (Read More...)