Ed,

This is my major gripe..Republicans who claim fiscal conservatism. voted against the stimulus,..but still earmark funds, and lobby for constituents to get stimulus funds.

Hey, I will vote and donate $$$ to a candidate, incumbent who, votes for reduced spending, AND [...]]]> The following comment was posted in another blog page. I thought it deserved a full-throated response.

Ed,

This is my major gripe..Republicans who claim fiscal conservatism. voted against the stimulus,..but still earmark funds, and lobby for constituents to get stimulus funds.

Hey, I will vote and donate $$$ to a candidate, incumbent who, votes for reduced spending, AND does not earmark, doe not lobby for government spending for his district!!

I worked as a contractor at two Federal Agencies..IT IS MY DEEPLY HELD BELIEF: you can eliminate 40.0% of the Federal Civilian Work Force…and the work would get done.  The feather bedding is that pervasive!!!!

So where are you on this????

Believe me, when I write the check for my taxes I fume about the pork-barrel spending in which both parties indulge. It’s common for pols to invoke “the children” for this policy or that, but my children right this minute will owe at least $40,000 – and this is just the debt that the Federal government has on the books.  Unfunded liabilities are a looming concern that dwarfs even this figure.

I will not support the earmark system that Congress has been engaged in.  It is secretive, not transparent and too often wasteful.   I do not believe in robbing Peter’s kids and grandkids to pay for Congressman Paul’s memorial rock garden and recycling center. This is is a terrible crime.

A caveat – the private sector does not have the capacity to fund certain types of projects, like dams, levies and bridges.  I would much rather these infrastructure projects be managed and funded by the states and I think we need to move in that direction.  However I will be less hostile to projects that have an effect on a broad swath of America’s citizens, not a payoff to a local group of supporters.

As to public sector employees – I don’t know about the percentage you cite, but I know that there are many good, entrepreneurial people working in the public sector who would be far more productive in the public sector.  The private sector has to trim labor costs but during this recession the only industry reliably gaining jobs and raising pay is State and Federal government.  Many of my friends and colleagues are starting businesses or finding new career paths after being laid off in across-the-board layoffs.  They will survive and thrive because they are Americans and that’s what we do.  I see no reason why public servants should be exempt from this economic reality.

I am going to need the vigorous support of fiscally responsible men in women like you in the days ahead.  I will not be buying the support of politically active groups with earmarks nor am I promising to.   My opponent does and will, an egregious example being the $90 million in subsidies his brother is slated to get for his wind farm.

That’s a lot of scratch.  Politically connected folks need only peel a few layers of bills off that fat, taxpayer-funded wad of cash to bankroll a politician.  Those who are used to the free-flowing milk and honey from the taxpayer are going to scream and whine like the world is ending.  The moment I lay my hand on that spigot the press will stick a camera in their face and they will lament that I am against sunshine and rainbows.  We’ll have to gut-check ourselves daily and not waver from the task of saving our financial future.  I’m up for the challenge, but I’ll need your continued support.

Thank you for the excellent question.

P.S. For the record, I am for sunshine and rainbows.

“Without restoring fiscal responsibility, our economy can’t fully recover. The large deficits we inherited as a result of reckless borrow-and-spend policies of the last administration have put pressure on funding for important priorities such as job creation. We are long [...]]]> My opponent Russ Carnahan recently released a statement on fiscal discipline.  Here is a quote:

“Without restoring fiscal responsibility, our economy can’t fully recover. The large deficits we inherited as a result of reckless borrow-and-spend policies of the last administration have put pressure on funding for important priorities such as job creation. We are long overdue to reestablish tough common-sense action to restore fiscal responsibility.”

This is strong talk for a congressman who was nominated by Citizens Against Government Waste as “Porker of the Year.”  Fiscal discipline is a philosophy, not a catchphrase.  People who believe in fiscal discipline pay their bills, balance their checkbooks and don’t go into debt for frivolous expenditures.

I believe in fiscal discipline as a way of life, not as a slogan.  While working in Governor Matt Blunt’s administration we opened ourselves up to intense criticism by proposing cuts to wasteful spending.  Rent-seeking bureaucrats were vexed by the Missouri Accountability Portal where they must post their expenditures for all the world to see.

What has Russ Carnahan done in the cause of fiscal discipline? Has he ever refused to support a budget bill as too “porky?”  Has he ever voted “no” on fat-laden legislation? Russ Carnahan voted with his party to raise the debt ceiling enabling the Federal government to further plunge our nation into hock.  How is that fiscal responsibility?

President Obama has spent the last 18 months saying one thing and doing another.  Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid have looked Americans straight in the eye and told us that health care legislation would not raises taxes and ration care despite the plain language of the text.  Russ Carnahan has been right there alongside them, voting “yea” to mortgaging Missourian’s future.

This state’s motto is “Show Me” and Russ Carnahan has nothing to show for his newfound belief in “fiscal responsibility.”  His voting record makes his recent conversion to the church of fiscal discipline laughable.  Congressman Carnahan has rubber-stamped every spending initiative Speaker Nancy Pelosi has asked him to.  Russ Carnahan may be contemptuous of our intelligence, but we in the Missouri 3^rd are not buying it.

When Congressman Carnahan voted in favor of the stimulus bill he voted to saddle [...]]]> In order to bring you this unemployment update, we interrupt our effort to get Congressman Russ Carnahan to come to his district to explain the soon to be voted on health care scheme rather than spending taxpayer money on a slick brochure legislation.

When Congressman Carnahan voted in favor of the stimulus bill he voted to saddle each family in our district with at least an additional $10,000 in debt.  The promise was that the additional spending would keep unemployment from reaching 9%, and that people would return to work sooner than if we did not take on the additional debt.

What Congressman Carnahan delivered with his flawed scheme was peak unemployment of 10.2%.  We are now in our second month of 10% unemployment.

So, to review – Congressman Carnahan saddled you and me with another $10,000 in debt and bought a worse jobs situation than if he had not done anything at all. Carnahan, Pelosi and Reid got a nice fat slush fund for their political supporters, but for us, nothigng close to what was promised.  If congress were a Missouri business, the attorney general would be investigating them for fraud.

Remember this on election day.

We now return you to our regularly scheduled attempt to get Congressman Carnahan to have a health care town hall.

Dec. 16, 2009 – Statement of Ed Martin on Carnahan’s Vote to Lift the Debt Ceiling to Unprecedented Levels (Acrobat)

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The Boston Tea Party, from which the Tea Party movement [...]]]>

Benjamin Franklin noted that the smart thing for Britain to do was to make doing business in the colonies cheaper for East India Company but his wise counsel was ignored and revolt followed.

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The Boston Tea Party, from which the Tea Party movement draws its inspiration, is at its heart a story of excessive taxation, government and private sector “cooperation” and a people fed up with political leaders who hewed to their own counsel and ignored the people they governed.

Sound familiar?

The East India Company had struck a deal with the Crown to have an effective monopoly in the tea trade.  This monopoly made East India wealthy and powerful, and enriched the monarchy – for a while.  Over time the company found itself unable to profit in difficult times under the terms of the monopoly.  The Tea Act was passed to offer relief to the East India Company – not by reducing the duties it had to pay to the crown, but by raising taxes on those who consumed it elsewhere.

By the time the tea in question had arrived in Boston harbor, many Americans were frustrated by the burdens placed on them by the British, the tea taxes being a very symbolic one.  Typically, tea bound to America subject to the taxes was simply sent back without being offloaded.  The Royal Governor of Boston Thomas Hutchinson refused to turn the tea back, and let the cargo sit in the harbor.

The Americans who snuck aboard the ship and heaved the tea into Boston Harbor struck a chord both here in America and in Britain.  Americans began to rally to revolt, the British aristocracy running parliament became bellicose.  Assuring themselves they were dealing with uncivilized rabble British leadership dug in and did as they saw fit.

Sound familiar?

A lesson I take from all this is that a small number of connected interests can partner with the government and prosper – for a while. Market forces always give such dubious partnerships a rough run eventually, and the failures always make their way onto the backs of the people.  In the case of the East India Company, the regulations and taxes it agreed to became burdensome as European appetites shifted and famine struck India.  Further, smuggled tea to the colonies eroded the market for their product, and the Crown was unwilling to change their end of the deal even though the conditions for trade had changed for East India Company.
Big business does not like competition, but history proves that anti-competitive regulation deals struck to favor big business inevitably doom them, but in the process serve to harm the economic outlook of the people.  Congress like to inveigh against “fat cats” but these same fat cats shovel money into their campaign war chests, hire their families and provide juicy travel opportunities.  Inevitably, confidence in the leader’s dedication to the people is questioned, if not clearly and obviously compromised.

Benjamin Franklin noted that the smart thing for Britain to do was to make doing business in the colonies cheaper for East India Company but his wise counsel was ignored and revolt followed.  Today, hundreds of companies can take the symbolic place of the East India Company as they accept bailouts to recover from market catastrophes whose genesis is from government regulation.
I am running because I believe American business will do best when unshackled from choking regulations and burdensome taxation.  Unleashed, the best workforce on earth will get back to doing what it does best, providing the world with leadership to prosperity.

Dec. 10, 2009 – Statement of Ed Martin Regarding More Spending Votes by Russ Carnahan (Acrobat)

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This has been a tough year for Americans looking for stability [...]]]>

Congress may realize that deficit spending is no way to run the country, but their solution will not be to cut spending, it will be to raise taxes.

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This has been a tough year for Americans looking for stability in their economic life. Congress passed massive bailout and stimulus bills, promising us that despite the piles of debt heaped upon us and our kids, it would soften the jobless rate.

Reality was that with the stimulus, our unemployment rates exceeded the worst case scenario we were supposed to be spending billions to prevent. Missouri’s third district was hit hard by the recession, and all of know men and women who are out of work. Now they are out of work, and every member of their family has $40,000 in federal debt hanging over their heads.

I am encouraged to hear that November’s unemployment numbers are finally moving in the right direction, ironically just a day or so after the President derided business owners for not hiring. I very much hope for the sake of Missouri’s families that this means the worst is over. Even if joblessness bottoms out, there is a great deal of work to be done.

The debt Congress is incurring is utterly unsustainable. Probably within my lifetime, certainly within those of my children, interest payments will exceed the costs of our most expensive entitlement programs. Put another way, we may spend as much in interest as we do on Medicare.

Congress may realize that deficit spending is no way to run the country, but their solution will not be to cut spending, it will be to raise taxes. Just this week, the house voted to make estate taxes permanent. Representatives in Congress like Russ Carnahan and Speaker Nancy Pelosi look upon hardworking Americans as an endless source of cash to fund their personal crusades.

If the recovery has begun, and the good news in November is not the result of people dropping out of the hunt for work, then we need to make sure that the next Congress does not smother it in its infancy. If they pass the wildly mislabeled health care reform and fraud-based cap and trade legislation, or simply fail to get our deficits under control, businesses will hunker back down and we’ll not only see new jobs sputter out, but current jobs cut as well.

Even though I trust the “created or saved” numbers about as far as I can throw  an aircraft carrier, these numbers are dismal even by the [...]]]> Russ Carnahan may be proud of his work making sure Nancy Pelois’s agenda passes with as little maintenance as possible, the results are not too much to be proud of.

Even though I trust the “created or saved” numbers about as far as I can throw  an aircraft carrier, these numbers are dismal even by the bogus standards set by this administration:

I oppose pork barrel spending – it is literally buying votes with the taxpayer’s money.  Nevertheless, if you are going to saddle the people of your district with crushing debt, they ought to have something to show for it.