It might come as a shock to you, to learn that the common trait among poor cities and states is too much government spending and taxation. The fastest growing states in job creation in America today, have the leanest government operations you can find anywhere.

Politicians that have promised the moon to gullible citizens, have contributed enormously to the fiscal problems going on in our states and cities.

Some naive citizen might say lets tax the rich more, but you forget most members of congress are rich.

Do you honestly think they would actually pass laws that would make paying taxes clear and stress free. The loopholes is what the rich use to pay very little taxes, while donating some to the politicians.

But the real squeeze of the tax laws, is mostly reserved for small businesses and mom & pop stores, without the means to hire well connected tax lawyers to deal with the IRS and state tax loopholes.

Enormous pension benefits, over inflated salaries, crazy work rules and burdensome taxes are just some of the ills plaguing a lot of our state and city governments experiencing financial difficulties.

Below are some indicators of economic trouble for poorly governed states or cities:

How Easy is it to Start a Business

Most municipalities preach the virtues of small business and yet the regulations for creating new businesses is just too high. Just try starting a small Grocery store in New York City, and witness the mindless requirements they want you to comply with, all in the name of collecting fees.

Government employees have created rules designed to discourage new business start ups, while stifling creativity with existing ones.

Generous Social Welfare Spending

Most people still think additional government spending would decrease poverty, and yet poverty has risen every year since the war on poverty started many decades ago.

With trillions of dollars spent on the war on poverty, how come the poor are still so visible, and homelessness is still rampart in America today.

The social welfare mess have contributed immensely to our broken down family structure, out of wedlock child births, high rate of incarceration, and yearly increase in drug use.

Many states give you more money as long as you have more kids. Your rent would be paid, your food stamps allotment would be increased, and you would also get some more cash as long as you produce more babies.

Some call it helping the needy, and I say it has created a permanent underclass, forever dependent on government largesse.

The government handouts now have millions of Americans conditioned into thinking the Government must provide for them.

Sociologist know you cannot tax your way out of poverty. We humans for a lack of a better word, are born lazy, including myself. Most people now want stuff done for them for free, instead of the other way around.

The sad thing is that, the social help delivered in the name of fighting poverty, is not really helping anyone.

If I gave you food to eat today, what would you do when you’re hungry again tomorrow? I think a better model would be to teach people how to help themselves, with a permanent cut off date for some benefits if certain metrics are not met.

Not once do the politicians think about how all this will be paid for. Tax the rich they said, and yet the rich have smart tax accountants that move around assets around the world, to keep them away from the ever nosey tax man.

The only ones left are the middle class and they’re been taxed unfairly high.

If you think what I am saying is over the top, visit some of the basket case cities like Detroit, Oakland, Stockton etc and see the generous benefits afforded unwed mothers, drug addicts and the chronically poor.

Insanity is doing the same thing all the time, and expecting a different result. We humans are generally lazy and if encouraged, most would choose the pact of least resistance. Why work hard, when the government delivers some benefits for just staying home.

 

Some Sensible Solutions to Our Looming Fiscal Explosion

I have excluded the federal government from this equation because it has the power to borrow more money at low interest rates, using its citizens as guarantors.

We currently have a national debt of about 18 Trillion dollars, and we keep spending more. What a burden to leave our grandchildren!

Also the designation of the dollar as widely accepted world currency, confers enormous benefits that have allowed us to spend borrowed money like drunken sailors.

That world-wide currency designation would not last forever, and when it ends our fiscal problems would really become disastrous.

As long as the dollar is widely accepted as the world currency, we should not experience the Greece problem. Our states and cities do not have such luxuries and unless they change there fiscal habits, many would file for bankruptcy, and human and capital flight would follow.

Below are some needed solutions:

No More Increased Welfare Benefits With More Babies. Institute a total help package for any deserving parents. You have to let people receiving the benefits know, the object of the help is to enable you to help yourself.

Immediately end the practice of increasing welfare benefits to mothers with more babies. We have tried that model for many decades, and look at what we have to show for it.

Do you know over 75% of the prison population have single parents. It is time we make our citizens responsible for there actions. Simply rewarding bad behaviour increases it.

Most states and municipalities have to start encouraging business creation by establishing, a one Stop Shop For Creating a Business.

Why should one need three to four permits just to open up a barber shop? It’s truly insane the volume of rules that are currently on the books, which helps discourage budding entrepreneurs.

Budding entrepreneurs should not be made to jump through hoops to fulfill a life long passion.

Just one department should be tasked with making that dream happen. It should not be a department created to increase revenue as it is now the case in many states and cities.

The main function of this department should be to encourage people to create their own business. To show good faith, the fees to open up a business should be less than $100 in total.

The current flavor of the month is that the rich should pay their fair share. Really! And that statement is coming from some of our lawmakers responsible for creating the loophole filled tax laws, that benefit the rich and severely hampers the middle class and the poor.

It’s time to start preaching Less Government spending. The states and cities in financial trouble are suffering from too much spending and taxation.

Hard working business people are a smart bunch, and many would run to places that welcome them with open arms, instead of burdensome regulations designed to kill jobs and the middle class.

If you expect the government to tax the rich more, keep on dreaming, because it will never happen. Winning elections cost money, and most politicians have sold their souls to the highest bidder way ahead of the first cast ballots.

Because the rich cannot be are protected and cannot be touched, politicians are now extracting more fees and taxes from the so called middle-class and the working poor.

I know you’re kind-hearted and don’t want your fellow citizens to go hungry, but someone has to pay for any dollar the government hands out. We need less government to encourage more productivity.

Bigger government just means more taxes, because someone has to pay for those largesse been given out weekly. Take a look at your paycheck and tell me you’re not pissed at all the deductions from your hard earned money.

Well what are you going to do about it? You can play ignorance, and go back on Facebook and chat, or you can start voting out all politicians, regardless of political party affiliation.

Get involved today, or watch as the day of fiscal reckoning approaches our lovely America. The creditor is always more powerful than the debtor. Very soon, the people we owe money to are going to turn-off the cash spigot, and then what do we do.

Most great countries that fell by the wayside, all over-spent and over-regulated before the empire collapsed. Wake-up Americans, your 401K and pensions will not be worth much, unless we take steps to correct the fiscal maladies, affecting our federal, state and city governments.

Here are some useful Resources:

See Our National Debt Clock

US treasury Dept – Debt History

Nice Infographic About the National Debt