Other recent articles under: National Debt as of May 26, 2008
Topic: National Debt
Aggressive Pruning Is Needed
This Memorial Day Weekend I'm in my back yard, trimming back some severely overgrown bushes. The country needs to do the same with Federal spending. by Bob Nightingale
(libertarian)
Monday, May 26, 2008
My aunt, who spent over 30 years of her working life running the family tree nursery business, told me never to be afraid to prune too much. It always grows back. A garden or a yard needs annual care for it to look nice.
I had overgrown redbuds and lilacs. I couldn't sit back and enjoy my back yard, because branches blocked the view. I snipped the way I was taught, steep angles near the fork so that rainwater wouldn't pool and rot at the stump. While I worked, I listened to birds and the gurgling creek. It was a good time to think that it was time to do other pruning.
My business went through a pruning over the last two years. I work for a technical firm of about 1,500 employees, of which about 100 were in North America. I really didn't know what most of the company did. I work from home and have contact with about five or six people on a project. About a year ago January, I found out that the CEO had misappropriated several millions of dollars. We were bankrupt. The investors brought in a turn around artist. He fired all the top management and installed standard accounting procedures. He discovered we had negative market worth. After packaging us up and selling our company to a venture capital firm, middle management disappeared. The Toronto and L.A. offices went poof. About half of my department quit because of the salary freeze and the shakeup. Luckily I was on a list of vital employees. Once we get sales back up, I'm sure we'll start recruiting again. But for the next several months, we have to prove that we can cover our current expenses.
This pruning in my company shed dozens of different accounting systems, email systems, obsolete equipment and unused office space. We're now a smaller, but profitable company. The tough decisions the new owners made meant that our customers will get the support they paid for. For those of us who still have jobs, we might have some long-term career stability. At 44, it's hard to start a job search. I like what I do.
Such pruning is sorely lacking in our federal government. Our national debt is over $9.3 trillion ([link edited for length]). The recent continuing resolution that funds the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as other spending, will add another $300 billion. The stimulus package of tax rebates flooded the domestic economy with $200 billion dollars, but with no correlating cuts in spending.
Our country already has a landscape design plan called the Constitution. It lays out the minimum you need to frame the patio with a judiciary, executive and the legislative branches. After that, you have some prize trees in the first ten amendments, based on its contemporary document, the Bill of Rights. I like interstate roads and a reasonable military and a fair court system to enforce contracts. Those can stay. Much of the other things, like farm subsidies, can go.
Unfortunately, your masterpiece can get overrun by perennial spending bills that stray from the basic plan. Federal block grants to states, with federal controls, remind me of raspberry and thistles. I have to use leather gloves to pull those out at the root. State programs should be run and funded at the state level, respecting that tenth amendment. Judicial activism is like your favorite lilac bush over growing the path. Our extended military commitments are just like my viburnum, covering the west side of my deck. My arms were scratched up while doing some major surgery. It's going to be painful to correct decades of unrestricted spending. We could probably get by with one-tenth the size of government today. Those agencies left would get the equivalent of more rain and sunshine, such as veterans's care and border enforcement.
One of the keys in getting your garden to grow is to pick the right fertilizer. Use plenty of manure that's free of weed seeds and is low in acid.
Also, stick to your plan and have patience.
When you have a dead tree or a big bush that no longer fits your theme, get out a chain saw and an axe. No one will complain that you took too much out. Rather, you will enjoy your yard all summer when it all works.
Once you have it the way you like it, you'll have a lot less maintenance next spring.
Did you like this article? If you did, Thumb It! 4
thumbs so far
The views expressed
in this article are those of Bob Nightingale only and
do not represent the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates.
Bob Nightingale is solely responsible for the contents
of this article and is not an employee or otherwise affiliated
with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.
Want to comment on
this article? Leave your comment
here. Your email address is required to track your
comment. However, we will neither publish your email
address nor distribute it to other organizations or
persons. The only reason we might use it would be if
we needed to contact you regarding your comment. All
comments are subject to our
terms of use policy.
