A Modest Proposal for Balancing the Federal Budget

It's no secret that people in this country are furious with our Federal Government for wasting our money.

In any given year, we spend billions on pet projects for various congressmen that do nothing for the country, but which they deem indispensible to their own bids for re-election.

Various proposals have been floated over the years, from a balanced budget amendment, to priority-based budgeting. But the red ink just keeps piling up, and the Government keeps on doling out money like drunken sailors. And in recent years, it doesn't matter much which party is in charge; the only thing that changes is which set of well-connected cronies gets to gorge itself on our hard-earned money ---money which we give up because we can't boycott paying our taxes without going to jail.

I think the better solution is not to keep forking over more money to the government; we'd be better off demanding that they spend no more money than they take in. To that effect, my own modest proposal has been to pay the President and Congress out of any surplus funds---ie, money left over after we paid all our bills. Kind of like what happens to the proprietor of a small business, only with free health care. If we don't have a surplus...or we're bleeding money that year...they don't get paid. I think that probably would do more to balance the Federal budget than any number of laws, amendments, or protests by angry taxpayers.


JEFFREY CAMINSKY, a retired public prosecutor from Michigan, writes on a wide range of topics. His books include the science fiction adventure novel The Star Dancers, the exciting second volume in the Guardians of Peace-tm series, The Sonnets of William Shakespeare, and the acclaimed Referee’s Survival Guide, a book on soccer officiating. All are published by New Alexandria Press, and are available on Amazon, as well as directly from the publisher.