We hear and read a lot these days about the “fiscal cliff.” Pardon me, but I think I’ve seen this show somewhere before. You may remember the cartoon series featuring the Road Runner (Accelerati incredibus) and his nemesis, Wile E. Coyote (Carnivorous vulgaris). I’m reminded of a scene where Road Runner, with Wile E. in hot pursuit, runs up to the face of a sheer cliff. He quickly paints on the cliff face the entrance to a big tunnel. Of course, Wile E. runs smack into it and knocks himself out. Beep, beep!
Transpose the scene to today’s Washington, D.C. The Democrats (Road Runner) in the spirit of compromise (strictly for public consumption) have painted a sign saying “Balanced Approach” on the face of our “fiscal cliff.” Republicans (Wile E.Coyote), ever willing to compromise and appear reasonable, run eagerly into the tunnel entrance, which of course it isn’t, and get knocked out. It’s all about tax increases, with little room for serious limitations on spending, especially the entitlements, which are the real problem.
I believe I recall another scene from those cartoons of long ago. Again, the cliff. Wile E., again in ravening pursuit of Road Runner (who makes a sharp turn away just in time), runs off the edge of a precipice. He doesn’t realize he’s out there in thin air. You can imagine the scene: There he is, feeling that he’s in for the kill and then looks down, legs windmilling. Yikes! His feet spin like he will overcome gravity, and you know the rest.
That’s where we are as a nation today. The majority in our recent election would appear to have little appreciation that we ran off the edge of the fiscal cliff some time ago. We can almost certainly never repay our $16 trillion (and growing) debt — based on the debt’s current trajectory and the cowardice of many politicians of both parties.
All the spin from the victorious Democrats and the press in the recent election is that taxing “the rich” will solve our fiscal problems. In reality, large, even punitive increases in taxation of the despised “2 percent” would barely make a dent in our annual deficits, according to Thomas Sowell, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.
The real problem is out-of-control spending, which has been going on for far too long. The entitlements (chiefly Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security) are what must be addressed, but they won’t be. We can count on that.
A study of history is not comforting. The decline of nations and great empires is rarely reversed by self correction but by disaster, from within or without. Unless militant Islam triumphs first, which is questionable, it will be from within. You can see it: The deterioration of our culture in the last 30 or more years is, or should be, obvious.
As the administration’s second term gets underway with full-throttle measures to implement European-style “social democracy,” and our economy continues to be sluggish, truly conservative answers to our problems should look better and better. This is why our “moderate” Republicans (Moderati gulliblus) must not try to be “Democrat-lite.” That could be fatal for the GOP and us. But it takes courage to hold to tried and true conservative principles in the present environment.
Whether Wile E. Coyote can remain suspended in thin air (where we are today) or not remains to be seen. Think not. Gravity and the laws of economics will have their way. Unlike bankrupt Greece, we are printing our own money to buy our debt and lots of it. That’s not good. Also, unlike that unhappy country, there’s nobody out there willing and able to bail us out. Some might even cheer our fate.
A later emanation of this classic cartoon series has Wile E. and Mrs. Coyote seated at their dining room table enjoying a Thanksgiving dinner — of roast Road Runner, with all the trimmings. Now that, figuratively, is what conservatives should aim for by holding to our principles, starting now. It would be worth a big “beep-beep” for our country.
Alan Boone, a retired medical oncologist, lives in Bangor.
Democrat-Lite aka “RINO”? Your hardline mentality friend, has been getting rid of RINOs and replacing them with the genuine article. We need moderate, cool heads right now on both sides, not roadrunners or coyotes.
Funny you mention “Militant Islam” as even as a semi-legitimate threat to our nation. They’re not and never have been – they’re just the latest of our boogie men. 60 years of well intentioned, but mostly failed foreign policies and the ever increasing budget that went along with them are at the root of the problem – which is not to say entitlement reform isn’t an important part of the equation as well.
I’ve not yet heard anyone suggest taxing the rich is the panacea that will fix everything. This is a common misrepresentation of the Democratic position.
Roadrunner was funny. Almost as funny as some of the comedy you have authored in this article. For example ” Republicans (Wile E.Coyote), ever willing to compromise and appear reasonable”.. good one Doc. Republicans ever willing to compromise and appear reasonable. Where have you been for the past few years Doc, under the rock Wile E. keeps getting clonked on the head with? Medicare and Social Security are according to you now “entitlements” are they? . So I guess using your convoluted logic the houses I bought and paid for as well has any savings I worked hard for are also “entitlements” as well. I seem to remember money being taken out of every single paycheck I ever received for those so called “entitlements”. Now that you are retired something tell me that Dave Letterman and Jay Leno aren’t worrying that you will soon be taking over on late night TV . Sorry Doc you just aren’t making it as a comedy act. Try sticking to Oncology. Oh yeah and by the way that Thanksgiving dinner you are talking about isn’t “roadrunner” with all the trimmings. It’s crow. Beep-Beep!!
I will definitely stick to Dave. Can get some good laughs. I love his “skits” with Rupert G, the deli guy. Rupert is great and so is that show.
This doctor/retired oncologist sounds like a real downer!
Let’s continue to know that Medicare benefits and Social Security benefits are , in fact, not entitlements. People earned them. (really not a difficult concept to get.)
Beep , beep!
People earned them but the $$$ isn’t there as its being spent on current entitlements
Al gore wanted to put a lock box on it; R’s disagreed, .remember?? R’s and their funders have tired to privatize SS many times before. They failed and thank GOD they DID fail , given what happened to wall street in 2008. .
IF anyone tries to tinker with benefits there will be a baby boomer “rising” like NO other. I was the youth they tried to “scare” when Reagan raised the tax on it to “save”;it. And by raising taxes on it HE did. NOW they are trying to use that same( the sky is fallng) line on the NEW generation.
SS and medicare ARE NOT broke . They are not what “caused” our problems! Tinkering with benefits needs to be OFF the table . The public WILL NOT tolerate it ;Baby boomer will not tolerate it. PERIOD. .R’s ( and anyone else) are nuts if they think peopel will support it . IF there is a irrational need, to mess with it , increase the income cap on it or OMG no increase taxes on it…like Reagan did !!!
LOL Everything is fine, there are no funding issues with SS or Medicare LOL What universe do you live in? The market returns outpace SS by far. Liberal solution is always raise taxes.
When you had $$$ removed from your paycheck it wasn’t for your entitlements but it was to support someone elses. When its your turn hopefully there will be enough workers to support your “entitlements”.
Social security is not a God D*&^ed entitlement. It is government mandated insurance that you are forced to pay your whole life on the promise that it will be there for you when you reach retirement. Quit trying to make it sound like a handout. It makes you come off as sounding a little dim.
Never used the word handout. Again a typical leftist strategy by changing words and meaning. Its a promise as you say. How many promises have politicians failed to deliver on? Better to be dim than blind
Not everyone collecting social security paid into social security – same can be said for medicare. You and I both know that is what he was talking about.
Doctor Boone you make valid points regarding the need for genuine entitlement reform. Unfortunately most will prefer to bury their head in the sand and pretend we can continue down the same road without reform and that all will continue to milk and honey. We are in for a rude shock. The most likely scenario? The Fed will print money and inflation will solve the deficit problem.
No word, of course, about the trillion dollar off-budget wars initiated under Bush2, or the excessive waste in defense spending in general, particularly as related to defense contracting (talk about stimulus!). While Congressional activity of recent years may well resemble a cartoon series, any notion that Democrats or social spending are the exclusive villains can only betray the simplest of mindsets.
For years we have poored in trillions on the War against Poverty. That war has been an utter failure but no one talks about that from the left. We need an exit strategy that should start with immediate spending cuts.
An exit strategy from taking care of the poor? lol. Finally, a tea party man who has the gall to actually come out and say what they all are thinking. Be careful ex, the Koch brothers may want to install you in some high public office for talking like that. I certainly hope misfortune never comes knocking at your door ex and you find yourself among the poor that you so despise. That would be very awkward indeed.
Since the War on Poverty has been waged by the Dems there has been ZERO progress. Poverty has effectively flat lined for the past 40 years. Your attempt at putting words in my post are a typical leftist strategy. Lets address why the War on Poverty has failed. It is because the Dems are great at building constituencies and poverty is their flagship cause.
I despise leftists who continue to perpetuate poverty. I do not despise the poor, having been poor, I actually empathize with their plight which makes me HATE liberals who maintain poverty. Why do you hate success and why do you want to continue to perpetuate poverty by voting in leftists?
One can avoid financial misfortune by planning appropriately and avoiding risks.
What is the purpose of Government, ex?? what is it’s purpose in a so called “christian nation”? You need to look at some history ( and the constitution while you are at )
R’s ( and their funders) have been trying to recreate the purpose of government to their liking, since they declared IT was the problem..Their funders didn’t want any bothersome regulations getting in their way of making a profit. They wanted to continue to dump their toxins and pollutants in to the air and water and land unregulated ( even though it KILLED “the people’..) They wanted to be able to sell tainted meat and other products even though it KILLED people.. They wanted to continue to use child labor even though it wasn’t good for kids. The people had a different idea about things!!.
They want BPA in plastic, they want to be without penalty when and OIL drill blows up.They want regulators to “look the other way” and compliance to be “voluntary” as they CRASH our economy The people STILL have a different idea about that..
The biggest funder of all ??? Casino addelson — he wanted to own the votes so he wouldn’t go to jail.on foreign bribery charges!!
The purpose of government is NOT to serve the best interest of the powerful and wealthy few, but of the many. MY government is NOT for sale to the highest bidder ..not YET anyhow !!
The highest bidder are the Dumocrats and they use taxpayer money to bribe their way into office. Child labor, tainted meat killing people, oil spills. Are there any helicopters hovering over your house. Loosen up the tinfoil and stop listening to 1970’s CNN
BUT It’s the spending on REAL wars that added to the debt .
As for the war on poverty …you are young and haven’t a clue what poverty looked like before . We were like a third world country.swollen bellies and all , and ASHAMED of it.
Old enough to collect retirement benefits. Started out poor as the son of an immigrant so pleeze stop spewing your nonsense and liberal garbage. a third world country with swollen bellies LOL. Spending money on the poor doesn’t impact the bottom line but spending money on wars does???? LOL Loosen up the tinfoil and adjust the rabbit ears, you are sounding like a raving loon more commonly known as a misinformed liberal
Yes, the trillion spent on Iraq and Afghanistan were added to the debt and that was BAD and WRONG. Most of that trillion was not spent on the wars. It was spent in a misguided attempt to nation build after the war was over.
While you continue to beat the drum over the trillion spent on war you ignore the other 3 trillion of overspending by a progressive republican president. Bush.
You also ignore the fact that while Bush’s record of over spending 4 trillion in 8 years is horrible Obama has over spent 5 trillion in only 4 years.
Though I agree with your basic assessment, 1 trillion isn’t even close. 3-4 will be closer when all is said and done.
http://costsofwar.org/article/economic-cost-summary
The whole site is a great resource that examines not just cost in dollars, but in lives and what these dollars and lives have bought us – not much, that’s for damn sure.
The ROI on the stimulus/bailouts will probably never reach 100%, but their efficiency is far greater than the money flushed down the drain, primarily in Iraq.
I agree with you mostly on the true eventual cost. I do not agree with this site including the cost of homeland security to the “war” costs. Most of which is entirely wasted, but that is a separate issue.
Note how much of the entire amount, including the cost in lives and veterans benefits, disability, etc, is due to the nation building. We should have gone into both countries, destroyed their corrupt governments, warned other countries, (Iran), the same thing would happen to them if they tried to interfere with those countries, and told them to fix their own countries and leave us to he11 alone or we would be BACK and DO IT AGAIN.
And let the UN scream all they want. Make a real threat to stop funding the UN and even kick their sorry a**es out of the US and see how long they keep screaming.
Well, given that the ties from Al Qaeda to Saddam were a major stretch at best (and Iraq the country, even less) and that they had no capacity to attack the USA, I don’t believe any invasion was warranted.
I still believe like many, that Bush I should have mopped him up back in 91 when we had both the personell and the backing of the world in place.
However, I think like many people, I could have accepted and gotten over a decapitation strike from Bush II that resulted in the removal of Hussein, his sons and his lieutenants.
I don’t support Obama on everything he’s done so far, but his foreign policy at least, has been closer to what we need to shoot for in the long term.
No more nation building, I agree. It’s well intentioned, but almost always futile. Exacerbating the problem has been and always will be a very real possibility.
most of Obama’s 5 trillion was on BUSH policies ( wars , taxes, bailourts etc) You might rightly “blame ” him for 1 trillion in stimulous funds ( for the unemployed, jobs,and tax cuts) BUT even that has it roots in the R policies that caused the crash to begin with.
No surprise of course, that you are so blind in your opinion that you failed to get the point which was without massive spending cuts (which Obama has taken off the table) and massive tax increases which have been discussed and mostly agreed too, we are doomed for failure. Keep living in the past if you wish but here, in the present, is where the problems exist.
What a strange article. Written by an old Republican, sure, but still strange.
Not all old Republicans think like Dr. Boone.
Of course I realize that. However, these days there seem to be a lot of them who think similarly to that retired doctor . (tea party and others.) I like some Republicans (William Cohen comes to mind) but for the most part, it is not a party I would affiliate with. Will leave it for others. My grandmother and family growing up were Republicans. Even Nixon seems very moderate compared to a lot of the Republican party today though.
Reagan would be unacceptable to todays right wingers as too liberal. Plus he raised taxes 12 times
Absolutely.
JFK would be unacceptable to todays leftist extreme Democrat party
LOL, you tell yourself that.
JFK started the space program with a vision and todays Democrat shut it down.
“My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you — ask what can you do for your country.”
Todays Dumocrat says the government is not doing enough.
Try comparing JFK with Pelosi or Reid. What would JFK think of MoveOn? LOL tell it to yourself. Please put the bong down and maybe you’ll make some sense
Democrats didn’t shut down the space program — it’s alive and well. We’re making new discoveries every single day. What you’re spouting, along with those ridiculous insults, is just petty nonsense.
You have nothing and that’s why you resort to diversions and personal attacks.
It’s not that democrats shut down the space program, it’s that they lack the intellectual capacity to understand what a space program is. No offense, but democrats are pretty challenged when it comes topics other than sociology, dialectic materialism, or home economics.
Step away from the bong. This coming from the master of diffusion and obfuscation
…and his brother started “the war on poverty”..He was ashamed to find hunger in america .
Sorry, but in the real world of political discourse the Democratic party is a center-right party. A truly far left party would have nationalized the failing banks in 2008, closed Guantanamo (if not all foreign military bases), pushed Card Check and enacted a single payer health care system . That you see Democrats as extreme left says more about your own politics than anything else.
You hit the nail on the head. Exactly.
including a HUGE increase in the SS tax “to save it “and adding a NEW designated medicare tax.. He’d be scratchuing his head and rolling over in his grave saying: Well ,there they go again…”
It’s a little technical and probably beyond your ability to understand. It contradicts leftist thinking.
Oh no….very easy to understand (not deep ,etc . at all), but just plain wrong. It is not at all difficult to see how wrong most rightist thinking is. Will leave it to you.
Hmm… Hell freezes, BDN burns… welcome to the howler monkey debating society, doc.
Query to the BDN: what’s a nonmedical oncologist?
Perhaps one only involved in research of cancer . A scientist , but one who does not treat patients. I think that is what it means.
Unbelievable I almost could not believe I was reading the Bangor Daily News ,how could they possibly let a view point like that be published.Excellent letter tho I am tired of the whole democrat /republican blame game. We need to get our elected officials to start fixing the problems not blaming the other party.We have a big problem and there aint anybody out there to bail us out.
So Dr. Boone. I guess if through some cruel twist of fate or as an example of God’s sense of humor, you should end up poor. We can count on you to take a massive overdose, rather than be a burden to society?
So, if Dr. Boone ends up poor, you encourage him to commit suicide? What a hypocritical tool you are.
Nice analogy! But only a right wing conservative would have us feel sorry for Wile E. Carrying on with the analogy with a more centrist point of view, the prospect of having Wile E. come out on top would mean the death of Roadrunner. Let’s let the roadrunner live another day and just roll back the Bush largesse to the wealthy. Like Wile E. getting clocked by an anvil, he seems to come back time after time. If he gets his way, however, it’s game over.
“All the spin from the victorious Democrats and the press in the recent election is that taxing “the rich” will solve our fiscal problems.”
The only spin I see is spin coming from people like you. Please point to one top Democrat that is proposing we fix our debt problems with tax hikes alone. I can save you time, none of them are proposing that. So stop lying and saying they are.
And what’s truly laughable about people like you is that you’re desperate to avoid the fiscal cliff. Why? The fiscal cliff isn’t a cliff, it’s just drastic spending cuts. You want to prove to us how serious your are about cutting the deficit by avoiding tough cuts? You want to prove how serious you are by only cutting spending that you want to be cut? I think that just highlights your dishonesty.
Obama has no real spending cuts to speak of. He just ran an election campaign promising that he would tax the rich and keep entitlement spending at its current levels. I would much prefer going over the cliff, raising taxes and cutting spending and see what happens. It will be because democrats, as usual, refuse to compromise.
Get your heads out of the sand commentors. The “Road To Serfdom” by way of Socialism is well in place. The main culpret of our demise is spending by congress to get re-elected, and, gullible voters with their hand out.
The Wars over 10 years have cost = $1.2 Trillion.
Money WASTED on Health Care (including Medicare & Medicaid) over 10 years = $7.5 Trillion. Study by the Institute of Medicine.
There are only IOU’s in your Medicare and Social Sercurity accounts.
Taxing the rich won’t make a dent in our $16 trillion debt.
Where do the cuts have to be made? Do the math.
While I don’t deny that there is work to be done and much room for cuts, declaring Medicare and Medicaid a WASTE of money is absurd.
Stop the unfunded Bush wars and cut the bloated defense spending, end the fossil fuel subsidies, close the loophole that allow the effective corporate tax rate to be close to zero, stop the subsidies given to the corporate agribusiness, and stop the incentive to offshore jobs before touching ANY social programs.
Some inconvenient truths to end the right’s MYTH making and fanstasies
1. Clinton left Bush a surplus.( a mere decade ago.).
2. Bush spent it and then some :
a) ON tax cuts for everyone especially the rich and business( capital gains) and HE created the 47% ( middle class expansion of child deduction)
b) on 2 wars ( at least one, under false pretenses )
c) on part D pharmaceuticals for seniors .
His deficit when he left office was 10 trillion. You and the right were silent on “this”.spending.. In fact ,so called R leaders like Phil Gramm actually said running deficits were “GOOD” for the economy..( flip flop flip flop )
3. Deregulation of the financial sector and lack of government over sight and shear unadulterated greed busted the economy.
4. In response, the people,elected the OTHER guy to clean it up and change direction They just re-elected him to continue to finish the job
5. the Capitalist ( not socialist) ECONOMIC collapse has cost taxpayers a pretty penny to “clean it up ” and to minimize the personal damage( unemployment, lost homes, lost jobs ,lost investments ) like on INCREASED cost on medicaid , food stamps, welfare, unemployment. The damage of irresponsible past R policies continues.
6 R created the fiscal cliff by refusing to raise the debt ceiling even though they had raised it hundreds of times before under BUSH and every past president without blinking That action crashed wall street , YET again!! It was a dangerous game of chicken
7 R’s AGREED to a sequestration plan that would decrease spending. Now that is time to pay the piper they are reneiging
8 . “Entitlements”( SS. Medicare , medicaid) have NOTHING to do with the deficit, the debt,sequestration or ANY of our problems –The heart of the problem is IRRESPONSIBLE R policies and spending !! That is where the solutions lie.
9. One war has ended; one is about to be ended .Thank Obama
Tax cuts for the rich are about to expire — 2 years too late but…Thank Obama
Health care reform will save 700 biliion in medicare. .Thank Obama
10 Spending isn’t the problem ; belief in trickle down voodoo economic is.
11. REAGAN ( the right’s idol) fixed SS and medicare by INCREASING taxes on SS significantly, over 30 years ago AND by adding a designated medicare tax.. IT worked!! YUP REAGAN actually added taxes and INCREASED them Norquist was IN the room!!.
12 Touch entitlement and there will be a revolution like you haven’t
seen before… ask PHIL Gram what happened the last time R;s tried to do
it. His car was swamped by little grey haired ladies HE backed down .
13. R’s thinking defy logic.
R’s are in a NO won situation ..an empty can makes a lot of noise when rattled.
This is why our “moderate” Republicans (Moderati gulliblus) must not try to be “Democrat-lite.”
Kudos to you, Doctor, for continuing to fight the good fight and for coming up with a more civil alternative to my usual “gutless wonders” characterization for “moderate” Republicans.
Now that the election is over and the real impact of Obamacare (by design) kicks in, maybe the concept that elections have consquences will open some eyes.
Why, even now, Democrats are joining with Republicans calling for a delay in the Obamacare medical device tax. Of course, the Republican House already voted to repeal the tax, but Harry Reid’s Senate never took it up.
Stephen Ubi, president of the Advanced Medical Technology Association, also said this week in response to recently issued IRS rules that the tax could cost thousands of jobs – and is already causing companies to lay off workers and cut back on research and development.
Oh, and that 31% reduction in Medicare payment to doctors and hospitals along with millions of new patients added to the rolls and won’t have an impact on “free” medical care. Nope, absolutely not.
Welcome to the glories of socialism, lefties. You voted for it, you own it.
Too bad the rest of us will be dragged down into the cesspool along with you.