Democrats in spending frenzy on way out the door
Image by Getty Images via @daylifeThe weeks since Election Day have provided nauseating confirmation of Mark Twain's observation: "There is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress."There is more.
Exhibit A is the "omnibus" spending bill Harry Reid is trying to push through the Senate. This monstrosity contains about 6,500 earmarks -- special provisions inserted on behalf of lobbyists to benefit special interests. The lobbyists get big fees, the interest groups get handouts and the politicians get rewarded with contributions from both.
It's a win-win-win for everyone -- except the taxpayers who finance this carousel of corruption.
Defenders of earmarks and other forms of pork-barrel spending argue that this behavior can't possibly be corrupt because it's legal. But not everything that's immoral is illegal and not everything that's illegal is immoral -- and earmarks definitely belong in the first category. Normal people would call it bribery, but it's business as usual on Capitol Hill.
Equally troubling, earmarks and pork-barrel spending are the gateway drug that turns good legislators into big spenders. The new members may not take office until next month, but most are in Washington, and they're seeing how this process works. One hopes that they are shocked by this unseemly behavior -- but how long will it take before they get jaded and decide to play the game?
The bill's backers call it "fiscally responsible" because it increases spending by "only" 2 percent compared to last year -- but that's no sign of austerity when spending for these programs jumped by 20 percent in the last two years, as the national debt soared by about $3 trillion in the same period.
If politicians were serious about fiscal responsibility, they'd impose across-the-board cuts to bring spending back down to 2008 levels -- and then cut more from that new baseline.
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The earmarks alone average out to about 66 per senator. When you consider that some Republicans have no earmarks, the average goes up for the porkers. I agree with Mitchell that spending needs to be cut back by the 20 percent the Democrats have raised it in the last two years. That should be the new baseline from which we start real cuts. That is what the House GOP has said will be their target next year, but it is not too soon to start.
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