It’s all about the debt

I have chronicled in past writings how much heat we took for predicting 4% GDP growth if we would be able to get some form of tax reform in place. Larry Kudlow and Steve Moore took the campaign’s fiscal policy outline and refined it and got it passed through the congress. Recent stock market activity has folks a little spooked, but the stock market is not a good barometer of economic health. What we really need to focus on is managing the national debt. If we do not get our arms around fiscal responsibility, all of the tax cuts in the world are going to come to little consequence.

I think we ought to adopt something like the Connie Mack Penny Plan

I think we ought to adopt something like the Connie Mack Penny Plan. The former senator advanced the idea of cutting spending just one percent a year until such time as the budget comes into balance. This doesn’t seem like too much to ask, but I have not witnessed any desire or will to reduce spending at all. Right now, mandatory spending eats up most of the budget. Thus, spending cuts must now come from discretionary spending. There really isn’t much desire on the part of congress to mess around with their ability to redistribute your money to special interests. No, they have no desire to do that. And there is absolutely no will or desire to attack the destruction Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are visiting on our economy. I am hopeful the President will champion spending cuts. I am also hopeful he will open the dialogue on changing the trajectory of our mandatory spending programs. Reducing the size of the federal workforce might be an interesting place to start. Imagine eliminating 5% of the three million federal employees each year for five years. That action alone might save as much as $50 billion a year over time (an easy 1+% spending cut without addressing a single program). Maybe next time I’ll address grants and subsidies. It’s $1.5 trillion or so each year that is lost.

Dr. Sam Clovis——Bio and Archives

Samuel H. Clovis, Jr., Doctor of Public Administration
Liston to Sam on LATalkRadio, Sundays: 1:00 to 3:00 PM (PST)
(Impact With Sam Clovis)

Sam Clovis was raised in Kansas and attended the United States Air Force Academy, serving for 25 years on active duty as a fighter pilot.  He retired as a Colonel and the Inspector General of NORAD and the United States Space Command.

Sam served as a Fellow at the Homeland Security Institute, contributing in national preparedness and immigration policy.  He recently served as a tenured full professor of economics at Morningside College.

Sam has a BS from the Academy, an MBA from Golden Gate University and a doctorate from the University of Alabama.  He served as national co-chair and chief policy advisor for the Trump for President Campaign, was a policy director during the transition period and served as the Senior White House Advisor to the US Department of Agriculture.  He currently lives in rural Iowa.