Last fall I came to DC to tell a story. The story I told was one where it had been 29 years (1969) since a Democrat controlled Congress had passed a budget which ended with a surplus. Was that an important message? You can’t tell because no conservative, in Congress or out, or the RNC used that message.
This spring I decided to come to DC again. This time I had a different story to tell. With the Federal Budget the main topic of discussion, I thought it was important for the public to know that the White House Office of Management and Budget thought using a 2.0% average inflation rate (maximum 2.1%) for the next 10 years was appropriate. I knew we hadn’t had a decade that low in the past fifty years and that we were more likely to see high inflation, not low. Was that an important message? You can’t tell because no conservative, in Congress or out, or the RNC is using that message.
Maybe I didn’t go to the right people? I stopped by 99 of the 100 Senate offices and left them all a package. I went by approximately 150 Representatives’ offices and left them packages.
Maybe I should have taken it to media? You mean like Politico, Weekly Standard, National Journal, The Hill, Fox News, the Washington Post and many more. Oh, the one’s that I’ve sent numerous letters, emails and calls to. Yes those. Was it an important message? You can’t tell because no one in the media is covering that issue.
Why is it important? Compounding and Interest Rates. Compounding is the concept that says low rates over 10 years will return relatively small values in the last five years, but higher rates over 10 years will return much higher values in the last five years. The difference is huge, as in much larger deficits, compared to if they used reasonable inflation assumptions. And it would require using higher interest rates too! What I did to check this out isn’t hard. I went to the White House Office of Management and Budget website to find Table S-13 on page 202 of the Summary Schedules and I Googled CPI and found the government website for CPI (inflation). You’ll see that I’m correct.
As I drove to DC I heard reports about a rally held by Sen. Reid and some other Democrats. They told reporters there was no need to address Social Security at this time since it doesn’t affect the Federal budget. I thought that was strange since I’ve looked at Table S-4 on page 176 of the 2012 budget. It shows Social Security Outlays (expenditures) of $9.9 trillion and Receipts of $8.9 trillion. That shows a deficit of $1 trillion in the White House 2012 – 2021 budget. Is that an important message? You can’t tell because no conservative, in Congress or out, or the RNC is talking about this! Neither is the media!
So tomorrow I head back to Ohio a little more tired, a bit sorer and wondering “What is going on?” These aren’t difficult messages and they are central to the question on “Who can the American Public trust when it comes to the budget?” Is it an important message? You can’t tell because no conservative, in Congress or out, or the RNC is talking about this! Neither is the media!
