Mitt Romney: George Bush III?

There is no doubt in my mind that if George W. Bush had been a responsible president, instead of spending the nation into an economic meltdown beginning in 2007, Barack Obama would not be president today and the United States of America would not be $16 trillion in the red.

This nation is in grave financial trouble today for many reasons, but mostly because of the outrageous military spending adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan initiated by George W. Bush. Barack Obama has made the situation worse, and if reelected, will certainly not solve the problem.

All government spending today is out of control, but military spending in particular amounts to more than that of all the other nation’s of the world military spending combined, yet dollar for dollar is still the least beneficial to the people stuck with the bill.

This nation has realized nothing from the war in Iraq; nothing from the war in Afghanistan; and nothing from the unending war on terrorism. We are not more secure today than we were before September 11, 2001. We are, in fact, less secure because of the enormous $16 trillion of debt.

There is a decent chance that Mitt Romney will be the next president of the United States. Will he solve the nation’s debt problem or will he turn out to be George Bush III?

Mitt Romney has promised to cut federal spending but he has also promised to increase military spending. He wants budget increases for the military above even those sought by the most ardent conservative GOP military hawks.

It will be guns over butter if Mitt Romney has his way. That means essentially that the average U.S. citizen is screwed if Mitt Romney becomes president and gives even more money to the Pentagon.

Romney wants to cut domestic spending, and that’s fine; there’s plenty of room for cuts in domestic spending. But there are simply no good reasons to increase military spending. There is no return on military spending beyond that which is necessary to defend the country.

He pledges to bring total government spending down to 20 percent of the U.S. economy by the end of hia first term in 2016, which is about where it was during George W. Bush's presidency. That’s not nearly enough. It is not enough to simply spend like Geode W. Bush. That wild spending is what got us into this financial mess.

Current government spending is at $3.6 trillion, about 23.5 percent of the gross domestic product this year.  So Mitt Romney aims to bring it down a trifling 3.5 percent while at the same time increasing military spending. That’s exactly what George W. Bush did. One fifth of the entire U.S. economy amounts to out of control government spending.

The goal should be to cut spending to 15 percent of GDP within the next ten years, with the ultimate goal of paring it down to the neighborhood of 10 percent or less, i.e. about half of what the government spends right now.

That would mean eliminating some nonessential Cabinet level departments, turning many domestic programs over to the states, and gutting the government gravy train for the parasites in agencies like the GSA.

There’s a lot of fat to start with in programs like health research; NASA; transportation; homeland security; education; farm subsidies, food inspection; housing and heating subsidies for the poor; food aid for pregnant women; the FBI; grants to local governments; national parks; and veterans' health care.

The national parks, for example, should be leased to private operators who can find ways to run them at a profit from visitors who pay for the privilege of visiting them. Agencies like the GSA should be eliminated altogether and private businesses hired to manage the governments vast property holdings far more efficiently than the parasites doing the job now.

The entire federal work force could be cut by at least 20 percent. Family planning money grants, food stamps, school lunches, crop subsidies and similar programs should be scrapped. The Amtrak rail system should be entirely privatized.  

Maybe Mitt Romney will step up to the plate and be the business man who turned enterprises around and made them profitable. That’s exactly the kind of thing this nation needs right now.

Or maybe he’ll step up to the plate and strike out miserably like George Bush III.