CitizensReUnited - Entitlements

Excerpts from the

Declaration of Independence

July 4th, 1776

The Rally for Our Cause!

"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another . . . We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed . . . That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness . . . But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."

Are we not at such a crossroads in our country once again?

Entitlements > The first step is for our government leaders to admit we have a BIG SPENDING PROBLEM!

With government spending reaching an all-time high and approaching near 25% of GDP in 2012, and the national debt reaching 16.4 trillion (more than GDP), time is of the essence to lower spending. Historically over the past 50 years, the Federal Budget has run near 18% of GDP. So what is all this extra spending going towards? From 2009 - 2012 we had four straight years of 1 trillion+ deficits.

An article by Walter E. Williams identifies where federal funds were spent and are spent:

"Liberals like to blame national defense, but in 1962, national defense expenditures were 50 percent of the federal budget; today they are 19 percent. What accounts for most federal spending is the set of programs euphemistically called entitlements. In 1962, entitlement spending was 31 percent of the federal budget; today it is 62 percent. Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security alone take up 44 percent of the federal budget, and worse than that, it's those expenditures that are the most rapidly growing spending areas.

Our federal debt and deficits are unsustainable and are driven by programs under which Congress takes the earnings of one American to give to another, or entitlements. How long can Congress take in $200 billion in revenue per month and spend $360 billion per month? That means roughly 40 cents of every federal dollar spent has to be borrowed. The undeniable fact of business is that a greater number of people are living off government welfare programs than are paying taxes. That's what's driving Europe's economic problems, and it's what's driving ours. The true tragedy is that just to acknowledge that fact is political suicide, as presidential contender Mitt Romney found out. We can't blame politicians. It's the American people who will crucify a politician who even talks about cutting their favorite handout."

End Oil Subsidies for Oil Companies Earning Billions on the Backs of Americans!

Oil Subsidies in 2011: 24 Billion

Oil industry net profits in 2011: In excess of 100 billion

Spending and Spending Cuts

Reduce Dependency Upon Welfare and Food Stamps

Estimated Federal cost/year: Near 1-Trillion

Yes, about 25% of federal spending is upon welfare programs! This is equal to our deficit!

Number of Americans Receiving Food Stamps in September 2012: 46 million

Number of Americans Receiving Food Stamps in November 2008: 31 million

From Heritage.org Blog:

"Roughly 100 million people—one-third of the U.S. population—receive aid from at least one means-tested welfare program each month. Average benefits come to around $9,000 per recipient. If converted to cash, means-tested welfare spending is more than five times the amount needed to eliminate all poverty in the United States.

At the beginning of this year, only four of the 80-plus federal welfare programs had work requirements; the Obama Administration has now suspended the work requirements in two of these. After the Obama Administration suspended the work requirement from the food stamp program in 2009, the number of people on food stamps doubled.

The more than 80 federal means-tested aid programs provide cash, food, housing, medical care, and social services to low-income people. Here’s how the spending breaks down:

Federal: At $746 billion, federal means-tested spending exceeded spending on Medicare ($480 billion), Social Security ($725 billion), or the defense budget ($540 billion).

State: In 2011, state contributions into federal welfare programs came to $201 billion, and independent state programs contributed around $9 billion.

Combined: Overall means-tested welfare spending from federal and state sources reached from all sources reached $956 billion."

Since President Obama took office people receiving food stamps has increased nearly 50%! Now, just cutting the checks to all those receiving such benefits is not warranted or wise. What is needed is a plan to reduce the dependency upon the government by those in poverty by providing many if not most of them jobs and to increase the wages paid. The RevShare Everywhere Stimulus Plan will provide the jobs needed to reduce dependency.

CitizensReUnited Proposal > Spending Reform Act: Decrease welfare benefits (over time) in correlation with enactment of the RevShare Everywhere Stimulus Tax Plan (REST). REST should generate hundreds of billions of dollars per year over the next decade. If 500 billion/year is added to American employees to add jobs and increase their paychecks, then perhaps 100 billion/year could be subtracted from federal spending towards welfare.

Also I believe The Affordable Care Act or AKA ObamaCare may prove to be a BIG FAILURE by mid to end of 2014. We need reform in healthcare that rewards and treats patient illness, not a fee based system that works to incessantly increases the costs of healthcare.

Wealth Redistribution to the Top 1% of Income Earners and Corporations

Of course if you are not aware, between 1979 - 2007, according to CBO figures, the income of the top 1% of income earners increased nearly 7-fold over that of the middle 60% of income earners. Also corporate profits are at an all time high, while employee compensation has barely increased since 1978. Also CEO compensation has increased 726% since 1978. See chart below provided by the Economic Policy Institute via a WashingtonPost article.

These statistics demand some explaining beyond that the market price for gasoline is higher or oil refinery costs rose due to disruptions. The cost of labor could not have risen this much! And with some 24 billion in federal subsidies in 2011, it seems that the oil companies are left with no valid excuses to pass the extra refinery costs on down.

Can supply disruptions really be the root cause of such drastic differences in cost or are the oil companies simply fleecing Americans to the tune of hundreds to thousands of dollars per year, per household? The top 5 oil companies reported profits in excess of 100 billion in 2011. The oil companies appear to have created an environment whereas shortages of refinery capacity are claimed and blamed for the high cost of prices at the pump. But it cannot possibly explain the huge variance between cost of oil and cost of gas. If this is happening, is it not the responsibility of the government to investigate?

How come the oil industry received 24 billion in subsidies in 2011? And in 2012? Just think what a 24 billion stimulus to small businesses would have provided to our economy! What about an additional 24 billion for the amount they may now be fleecing the American people every year? Higher gas prices raise the cost of everything including groceries and going out to eat. When Americans run out of food they get food stamps (now 48 million people). With lower gas prices, those in poverty would need less food stamps and the rest of Americans would have more to spend elsewhere.

Now if the oil company subsidies are removed will they simply pass along the loss of 24 billion per year in subsidies to Americans at the pump? Hmm, they could, but they might run into a wall of hurt from negative press and backlash from Americans. If one or two oil companies refused to up prices to make up for subsidies Americans would buy their gas from them, thus thwarting the passing along the lack of subsidy capital.