Bribing the public with the public's money

Not only is there a shrinking pool of taxpayers caused by Congress pushing more and more taxation toward the top income earners, but there is a secondary effect of the unregulated spending by our government. Our underground economy is growing where more and more people are setting up shop off the record, barter transactions are increasing, EBay and other internet sites are thriving, and people who still pay taxes are looking at every possible way to avoid them.

Why? People are fed up with the government taking their money to pay for the votes of those that refuse to take personal responsibility for their own lives, and for government bailouts of unions, who through "thuggery" have coerced unsustainable contracts with local governments and industry.

Excerpt: According to the Heritage Foundation's 2010 Index of Dependence on Government, the number of Americans receiving a government check jumped nearly 14 percent in 2009 - the largest single-year increase since 1970 and 49 percent higher than in 2001. In May, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that the portion of personal income Americans received from private sector paychecks declined to a record low of 41.9 percent, while income from government programs climbed 17.9 percent. And with nearly half of American wage earners now paying no federal income taxes, the burden of increasing levels of government spending on housing, health care, welfare, education and other entitlements is being borne by a shrinking pool of taxpayers.

However, as government control and dependency increases, American competitiveness at home and abroad decreases. The United States was ranked No. 1 by the Geneva-based World Economic Forum in 2008, but slipped to second place last year and is now fourth -- behind Switzerland, Sweden and Singapore. In his 1835 classic "Democracy in America," Alexis de Tocqueville prophetically warned, "The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money." Now that the politicians have made that discovery, the issue is what will the public do about it this November. Examiner Editorial: Bribing the public with the public's money