Бывший конгрессмен Вин Вебер предупредил о кризисе госдолга и призвал к участию в выборах

Former Congressman Vin Weber, serving from 1980-1992, is a landowner and resident of Cass County since 1988 and was a recent speaker at the Walker Rotary Club. His knowledge sheds wisdom on many of our current events. He addressed four main concerns: first, the national debt has exceeded $40 trillion. This is especially concerning because historically no country where the gross domestic product (GDP) is exceeded by the national debt has done well. Compounding this fact,  the national debt equals 117 percent of the GDP. Two-thirds of tax budgets are spent on benefits such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and foreign aid. The cost of these programs almost always exceeds projected needs. Historically, fraud has also been a problem with immigrating groups. In the past, Italians and Irish groups were accused. Currently, Somalis have followed the same trend in creative methods to fraudulently engage benefit programs. Fraud has not been exclusive to any one race, cultural or nationality. Weber noted he did not support reducing the debt by taxing the rich or implementing socialism. He suggested one possible solution for decreasing the debt. Cost reductions to  Social Security could be made by changing the  12-month cost of living adjustment (COLA) to an 18-month COLA. During the question and answer, other suggestions for adjustments to Social Security included raising the maximum income of recipients so they are allowed to earn more without tax penalties and allowing investing funds in indices that often are more lucrative and would advance fund growth. Second, the habit of blaming others for the national debt and other American ills is non-productive, when in fact, it is everyone’s problem. Third, while the state of Minnesota currently has a budget surplus, programs that have been implemented under the current administration may run the state into a deficit. Historically, midterm elections experience poor voter turnout, resulting in votes against and weakening the current administration and Congress. The only evidence of mid-term elections not going against the presidency occurred three times. In the 1934 election during the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt (during the depression), 1998 during the Clinton administration (following impeachment) and 2002 following the George W. Busch administration (following 911.) In addition, fraud is not unique to Minnesota. For that reason, Weber encourages us all to get out and vote.  Many people do not bother voting in mid-term elections that may skew the results. Fourth, Weber explained his expectations on the upcoming elections. He noted the difficulty on achieving anything when people are strongly polarized, as well as the time that is wasted casting blame rather than moving forward. In conclusion, the Weber states that despite all our problems, the United States is still the best place in the world to live and Rotarians should continue to do what they do to make the world a better place.