What is deficit spending? What is the real problem with deficits?

Guest post by Roger Carlton:
Sorry to say that most of us are guilty of deficit spending. If you have a mortgage, car payments or credit card balances you are a deficit spender. If you borrow to go to college, you are a deficit spender. My liberal friends look at these "deficits" as investments. 

One of the key stories that got lost in the news regarding the impeachment process going on in the House of Representatives and the termination of the ISIS leader Baghdadi was the growth of the annual Federal deficit to nearly one trillion dollars.

It is important to understand that a trillion is a million-billion and a billion is a million-million. If that doesn't have you lost, assuming that you can afford a $50,000 F-150 pick-up, there are 20 of those in a million, 20 million of those in a billion and too many to contemplate in a trillion.

My conservative friends think negatively about deficits to the point that some are called deficit hawks. Sorry to say that most of us are guilty of deficit spending. If you have a mortgage, car payments or credit card balances, you are a deficit spender. If you borrow to go to college, you are a deficit spender.

My liberal friends look at these "deficits" as investments. Only time will tell if either view is correct. As George Will asks of conservatives, "What are you trying to conserve?"

The 2018 Federal deficit rose to $984 billion, which is a 26 percent increase over the previous year. 
The most amazing element of the deficit is the $380 billion that is spent on interest necessary to fund the borrowing cost of all previous deficits. In times of war, we need to deficit spend to protect ourselves. When the Great Depression and Great Recession happened, we needed to deficit spend to stimulate the economy by keeping critical companies and banks from failing. When the economy recovers those "loans" are usually repaid at a profit to the Treasury.

Politicians love to blame the deficits on entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid. These programs actually run a surplus and if the economy is growing and we are at full employment revenues are increasing. The law governing the situation requires that the dollars needed to fill the general fund deficit pot be funded in part by borrowing from the surplus in the entitlement pots. So, we are borrowing from ourselves.

The debt will eventually be repaid with interest...we hope. This political blame shedding is really a way to avoid alienating the recipients of Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid by suggesting higher payroll deductions or heaven forbid lower benefits.

The real problem with deficits is Congress' inability to work out compromises on spending and revenue. Do we really need a multi-billion dollar wall? Should we increase the number of people eligible for Medicaid? Should we spend to harden our communities against the impacts of climate change? Should we subsidize charter schools? Did we really need a tax cut for the wealthy and corporations during very strong economic times just to name a few of the many demands on the Federal budget. Said another way, where is the line between needs and wants?

On the subject of deficits, perhaps Groucho Marx' comment on life says it all. "Whatever it is, I am against it."

Roger Carlton is a columnist for The Graham Star.

A place to submit your work

Check out Chattahoochee Review, published by Perimeter College at Georgia State University.
The poetry editor is Michael Diebert, a friend of Writers Circle around the Table.

The review publishes poetry, fiction, nonfiction, interviews, and more. See their submission page for guidelines.
http://chattahoocheereview.gsu.edu/journal/submit/

http://chattahoocheereview.gsu.edu/what-inspires-you-onaiza/

Networking at a Writers' Conference

If writers don't attend the big writing conferences, they are cheating themselves of much that will improve their work and help them as writers and poets.

Over the past 25 years, I have attended several conferences held by North Carolina Writers' Network like the one to be held November 8-10, at the Doubletree by Hilton Asheville-Biltmore. I remember when locals complained that the conferences were all too far away from us so no one could go. At that time, one had to travel to Raleigh because all the conferences where held there.

But anyone can make the trip to Asheville (except me). Go for the day, attend the entire conference, Friday through Sunday, or just go and hang around, meeting agents, publishers, presenters and learning all you can about publishing. The cost to "hang out" is a smaller fee than attending the sessions. 

Every day I read about one or two of the presenters and long to sit in those classes. I can't go because of my health issues with fragrances, air fresheners, and chemicals I would run into in the hotel. I would pay if they could ever put those sessions online where I can learn right here at home.

I hope many of our members and local writers will take advantage of this event that comes here to the mountains every three years. How fortunate we are that the staff of NCWN can give us such a high quality three day conference. Some of my favorite memories of the conferences I have attended are the friends I made. Pat Davis, author from Brevard, and I met standing at the elevator in a hotel in Winston-Salem. She lived in Pennsylvania at the time, but we became good friends and are still friends today.

So many of the outstanding writers and poets I call friends today were presenters at conferences. And I am grateful for every one of them. 

Some of you attended our Day for Writers in August in Sylva, NC. Some told me they had never been to a conference and were delighted to know that the fall conference would be in Asheville.

I invite anyone who attends the NCWN Fall Conference to contact me if they would be interested in writing a post for our blog. Those who don't get to go would find it interesting to hear what is done, what attendees liked and the benefit gained from going to the conference. What connections did you make at the conference?

The article below gives you excellent ideas of what to do to make your time worthwhile. Read it carefully and need the advice.

https://www.writersdigest.com/publishing-insights/10-tips-for-effective-networking-at-a-writers-conference

Last WNO for 2019 November 8

I missed Writers' Night Out for October, but I surely hope to attend on November 8 when Rosemary Royston and Diana Anhalt will be featured. Check out their online information.

After the planned program, the floor is open to writers who want to share a poem or short prose piece. Those reading at Open Mic sign up when they arrive and this is always an interesting part of WNO.

This is the last one of this year. From December through March, we take a break due to the weather here in the mountains. 

I hope all our local friends will come out on Friday night, November 8, 7:00 PM.  If our sponsored events are not well attended, we might lose them for good.

Appearing Thursday evening, Glenda Beall, Michelle Keller and Jim Davis at JCCFS

I will be performing with my friend, Mary Michelle Keller  this Thursday, October 17, 7:00 PM at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC.

We would love to see our friends in the audience at the Keith House, Community Room.

Mary Mike and I have prepared a program of poems on similar themes and we will take turns reading instead of one person reading for twenty minutes and the other person reading for an allotted time.

Jim Davis is also on the program that evening. Jim writes true stories about his eventful life.

The folk school students often turn out for our programs, and I hope they are present this week.

The Literary Hour, our monthly event at the folk school, has been ongoing for over twenty years. 

To read about me and the others on the program, click on this link:  https://netwestwriters.blogspot.com/2019/10/the-literary-hour-readings-this.html

Impeachment Is A Complex Process

Many thanks to Roger Carlton, columnist for the Graham Starr Newspaper for another post this week. He gives us a clear picture of what is ahead. Roger lives in Robbinsville, NC.

Roger Carlton, guest writer

Whether you are an R, D or an I is unimportant. 
Whether you lean left or right or are in the middle of the political spectrum is unimportant. Whether you are for or against the wedge issues of today like gun control or right to life is unimportant. What is important is that our democracy is about to go through the torture of an impeachment process for President Trump.

This column is about the process of impeachment and draws no conclusions about the allegations made by a whistle blower regarding the President's conversation with his counterpart in the Ukraine. You will be able to decide for yourself as the process unfolds over the next few months.

Impeachment means that the President and other high federal officials may be removed from office as defined in Article 2 Section 4 of the Constitution for Conviction of Treason, Bribery, or other High Crimes and Misdemeanors.

What this phrase means is that the incumbent has abused the power of the office. The allegations made by the whistle blower and the transcript of a telephone conversation, which included the American and Ukrainian presidents, have caused House Speaker Nancy Pelosi  to end her recalcitrance and authorize the House Judiciary Committee to investigate. They can draw up Articles of Impeachment should the Committee so determine.

These charges must be crystal clear as to what laws are violated and must be written so that the American public understands what the alleged infractions are. There should be no hemming and hawing as happened when Robert Mueller testified regarding his probe into Russian interference in our election process.

The House of Representatives receives the Articles of Impeachment and then votes with majority rule to forward the Articles of Impeachment to the Senate which acts as judge and jury except in cases of presidential impeachment when the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court presides.

A two-thirds majority of the Senate is necessary to convict. The President is then removed and the Vice President takes the office. The new President then picks a Vice President who must be confirmed by both the House and the Senate. The new President and Vice President serve until the next general election which is in November 2020.

The American public is tired of all this partisan activity and now we will be confronted with a whole heap more of tired. Keep in mind that impeachment has been tried before. Eight Presidents have been threatened with impeachment and only two have made it to trial before the Senate.

Andrew Johnson, who became President after Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, was impeached over his attempts to fire Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. President Johnson failed to force the post Civil War southern states to allow former slaves to vote and other rights granted by the Thirteenth Amendment. Stanton openly argued with President Johnson. Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act to protect Stanton. The fight continued until Johnson's impeachment passed the House of Representatives and eventually failed in the Senate. Stanton resigned and the next President Ulysses S. Grant nominated Stanton to the Supreme Court. He was confirmed by the Senate but died four days later at the age of 55. Talk about irony.

President Nixon would have been impeached over the Watergate affair but had the good grace to resign prior to putting the country through the trauma. It has been alleged that Henry Kissinger brokered a deal that incoming President Ford would pardon Nixon if charges were brought and he was convicted as a civilian. President Ford did pardon Nixon for any crimes he might have committed. It cost Ford his re-election bid. 

 President Clinton's Impeachment over the Monica Lewinsky affair passed the House but failed in the Senate. So no President has ever been booted from office by the impeachment process.

One thing is for sure. This process will be ultra-political and the evidence and testimony presented will have only marginal impact on the ultimate decisions by both sides of Congress.

Educator Laurence J. Peter summed it up when he said, "Some problems are so complex that you have to be highly intelligent and well informed just to be undecided about them."

Let's  be both informed and patient as this nasty business unfolds the way the Framers wanted when they established the process more than 200 years ago.

Headliners for WNO - Jones and Cone in Blairsville, GA October 11

For my readers who live near Blairsville, Georgia, you would enjoy the program for Writers Night Out on October 11. Karen Holmes, host, has planned an excellent evening with Linda Jones, poet and Alan Cone, author. They will entertain you, make you laugh, and make you think. You will enjoy them both.

Click here to read more about these two excellent writers.

Birth of Constitution Important

Roger Carlton, columnist for Graham Starr newspaper

This week the Constitution of the United States is 232 years old. 

The Constitution is the governing document that establishes the form our federal government takes and the powers and limitations on those powers. The original document was not meant to be rigid and was amended in a 10 Amendment Bill of Rights in 1789 two years after the Constitution was adopted. 

We are still arguing about the meaning of these rights such as limiting freedom of speech, the right to bear arms and the limitation on establishing an official religion. We even tried to ban alcohol in the Eighteenth Amendment and the failure of that approach to create a better world was mercifully repealed thirteen years later in the Twenty-first Amendment. 

Thirty-three amendments have been proposed by Congress and sent to the states for ratification and twenty-seven have passed. Just to show how our Congressional representatives think things need to change, there have been 11,770 proposed amendments during the past 232 years, and thank goodness, less than one-fourth of one percent have passed. Perhaps all these attempted amendments show why we have such busy courts.

Remember that the Declaration of Independence got the ball rolling in 1776 which has come to be known as Independence Day or the Fourth of July. I read that marvelous document in its entirety while writing this column. It is worth 15 minutes of your time to do this as well. 

Here are a few conclusions from my reading.

The bulk of the document is a long list of grievances against British King George II. Perhaps the most important grievance is embodied in the words, "A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people." 

Of equal importance are the words, "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness." 

Well, to further prove that the Constitution is a living document, it took a Civil War and the Thirteenth Amendment to end slavery and women were not given the right to vote until the Nineteenth Amendment which was approved by Congress in 1919 (100 years ago} and ratified by the States in 1920.

So, if we declared independence in 1776, won the Revolutionary War in 1783 and adopted the Constitution in 1789, how were we governed during those  years? 

There was an interim document called the Articles of Confederation which established an interim form of government. This document was adopted in 1777 but not ratified by the states until 1781. It is nothing short of a miracle that reasonable people could come to a series of compromises that carried us through the the Revolutionary War and the brief period until the Constitution was written during a long hot Philadelphia summer. There were 55 Framers and 39 were signers. The youngest was Jonathan Dayton (26) and the oldest was Benjamin Franklin (81). The average age was  forty-two.

Please join me in celebrating the birthday of the Constitution of the United States. 

The democracy for which it creates guidelines and the fact that the basic document cannot be changed without an amendment process has kept us together through the Civil War and numerous crises. The Preamble to the Constitution says, "In order to form a more perfect Union." The word "more" says it all. 

If the Framers wanted a static document, they would have left the word "more" out of the document. There were approximately 2.5 million people in the 13 colonies in 1776 and there are 330 million people in the United States today. We have a lot "more" work to do to figure out how to preserve and enhance democracy in today's complex times, but we have the foundation to do that in the Constitution.