Time to expect less from government? on clarkhoward.com

Britain is in danger of having its debt that the government sells (its version of Treasuries), downgraded to third world status. Like us, the British government has been spending money it doesn't have in an attempt to jumpstart its economy. And now, credit ratings agencies are calling into question their ability to honor these debts.

Why is this a scary thing for us? Britains' debt load by next year will be about 66% of their output of goods and services. America's debt load by next year, with all the deficit spending, will be almost 71%, a level of debt considered outrageous even in war time.

But forewarned is forearmed. We still have time to turn this around. The problem is that we're dependent on the kindness of strangers to keep our economy cooking these days. Communist China, for example, now holds over $1 trillion of our debt. But how do we really keep ourselves cooking? Simple. We don't spend money we don't have. Yes, it's complex with all the bailouts and promises flying around. So how do we come up with money? We could tax ourselves every which way -- or maybe, we conclude that government should be required to do less.

It's become normal in wealthy western culture to depend on government to "have your back." It previous times, we relied more on neighbors, relatives and charitable organizations to lend a hand. Maybe it's time to get back to that model. Executive producer Christa talks about a charity she saw on Oprah called Good News Garage that fixes cars for the needy to help enable their job search. Clark likes this. While it would be great if government was able to provide for all, right now it just can't afford that. So if you are doing reasonably well, now is a great time to give back and help out others. Clark supports a constitutional amendment that would require governments to balance their budgets. Sounds quaint, but it's a realistic step towards changing our relationship to government, and how much we expect from it. Clark thinks we as a country have gotten a little bit lazy. If we don't want to be downgraded to third world country status, we need to get it in gear.

What others are saying

Too much free time, Dave
Dave, Dave, Dave. How much free time do you have to write blogs on this site? I hope you are off work (if you DO work) when you write. If you spewed your liberal nonsense and you worked for me, I would fire you on the spot for wasting my time. Fortunately, I work for myself, make plenty of money, and have employees to do most of the work while I endorse checks- this leaves me plenty of time to tick off liberals. To get back on subject, while the leech population (entitilement worshipers) of this country is growing, those who produce and pay taxes (I pay PLENTY) are having a tough time keeping up with the demand for THEIR money. This is why California is having so many financial problems. The big tax payers can't keep up with the government giveaways. Clark is right! Too many people depend on government for too many things. What happened to doing something for yourself? I guess those days are coming to an end. Get ready for the birth of the USSA. (United Socialist States of America) where mother America will take care of all your needs. I'm sure Dave and all of the liberal bedwetters out there can't wait for that glorious day!
By Eric @ 05/28/09 09:06:21 AMreport abuse
Modern government (part 2)
One of the biggest flaws of the system is that a few elected people are infuenced by money and political favors from other politicians and well paid lobbyist and the average voter feels helpless, and unable to make a difference in the way things are done. A lot of legislation that directly impacts the voters is never put up for a public vote and unless your a c-span watching political activist with time to write letters and call your politicians offices your opinion is never taken into account...your only choice (as mentioned here) is to vote them out in the next election....the problem is that doesn't change the system and the new politician is still going to vote his own pay raise and meet with the same big spending lobbyist as the old one...and as a group the "good ole boys system" will remain in place and stiffle any idealistic freshman politician with plans of reform.

We need to publicly shame some of these politicians into doing the right thing...example: it took a couple of years and tries to allow the newspaper in Ga. to publish the names of the politicians and elected officials that didn't pay their taxes. (28 of them) they voted against it the first couple of times...I believe if the information about what our government is doing was in our faces a little more, people would become more involved...take 10 minutes of the local news every day and educate the public on what the government is or isn't doing for them...most networks have 2 hours or more of so called news, but half of it isn't really news...how many pictures of downed trees after a storm do we have to see? while the wars overseas go unmentioned (maybe because the government told the media to downplay them, because nobody wants to hear daily of dead american soldiers)Newspapers do a better job, but let a few political commentators spew their opinions instead of report the facts about legislation and who is doing what in our government.....things need to change, I would hope Americans care enough to try and fix the system before we hit rock bottom....but most people have the attitude "what can you do?" and leave it in the hands of the politicians. Personally this is probably my longest political rant, and I'm scared it will put me on a government watchlist as a revolutionary.
Those in power give lip service to change while maintaining the status quo.
By Dave @ 05/27/09 02:54:03 PMreport abuse
Modern government (part 1)
I agree a balanced budget is needed. Less government bailouts would let hurt, by letting big badly run institutions fail, but would hurt less, and take less time to recover from, than bailing them out and letting the fail slowly with taxpayer money...as not much has been done to change the way these big bailed out companies are run.
I agree that we should force our representitives to listen to what the voters want instead of what is good for their pockets....all lobbyist should be banned, or made to lobby transparently by online petition to the politicians...with Americans having access to the internet we could be the most informed generation of voters...Obama promised to make things more transparent and that may lead to a radical change...I would like to see online sites that show what our government is doing...c-span is a sleeping pill (i recognize and thank the distinguished gentleman from texas and yeild my 2 minutes to him, so he can thank me for my ass-kissing on his bill) we need a modern grass roots, town hall, web site with plain english translations of upcoming legislation, with areas for debate, lobbyist, the politicians views and stands on the subject, as well as a way for the voters to make their opinion count. I know it sounds like a pipe dream and the hackers will have a field day, but this will be the future of government.
By Dave @ 05/27/09 02:50:24 PMreport abuse
Looking at politicians
It's hard to say our political system is not 3rd world already, with all the buyoffs and the absolute disregard for what their constituents want.
By drew @ 05/27/09 12:50:48 PMreport abuse
How can I be the first?
I wholeheartedly agree that balancing the budget is necessary. It is becoming more clear that our government is a self-serving pig trough that is out of control. Vote with your dollars and make the representatives feel the heat of you not voting for them.
By jason @ 05/27/09 12:32:38 PMreport abuse

Too much free time, Dave

Dave, Dave, Dave. How much free time do you have to write blogs on this site? I hope you are off work (if you DO work) when you write. If you spewed your liberal nonsense and you worked for me, I would fire you on the spot for wasting my time. Fortunately, I work for myself, make plenty of money, and have employees to do most of the work while I endorse checks- this leaves me plenty of time to tick off liberals. To get back on subject, while the leech population (entitilement worshipers) of this country is growing, those who produce and pay taxes (I pay PLENTY) are having a tough time keeping up with the demand for THEIR money. This is why California is having so many financial problems. The big tax payers can't keep up with the government giveaways. Clark is right! Too many people depend on government for too many things. What happened to doing something for yourself? I guess those days are coming to an end. Get ready for the birth of the USSA. (United Socialist States of America) where mother America will take care of all your needs. I'm sure Dave and all of the liberal bedwetters out there can't wait for that glorious day!

By Eric @ 05/28/09 09:06:21 AMreport abuse

Modern government (part 2)

One of the biggest flaws of the system is that a few elected people are infuenced by money and political favors from other politicians and well paid lobbyist and the average voter feels helpless, and unable to make a difference in the way things are done. A lot of legislation that directly impacts the voters is never put up for a public vote and unless your a c-span watching political activist with time to write letters and call your politicians offices your opinion is never taken into account...your only choice (as mentioned here) is to vote them out in the next election....the problem is that doesn't change the system and the new politician is still going to vote his own pay raise and meet with the same big spending lobbyist as the old one...and as a group the "good ole boys system" will remain in place and stiffle any idealistic freshman politician with plans of reform.

We need to publicly shame some of these politicians into doing the right thing...example: it took a couple of years and tries to allow the newspaper in Ga. to publish the names of the politicians and elected officials that didn't pay their taxes. (28 of them) they voted against it the first couple of times...I believe if the information about what our government is doing was in our faces a little more, people would become more involved...take 10 minutes of the local news every day and educate the public on what the government is or isn't doing for them...most networks have 2 hours or more of so called news, but half of it isn't really news...how many pictures of downed trees after a storm do we have to see? while the wars overseas go unmentioned (maybe because the government told the media to downplay them, because nobody wants to hear daily of dead american soldiers)Newspapers do a better job, but let a few political commentators spew their opinions instead of report the facts about legislation and who is doing what in our government.....things need to change, I would hope Americans care enough to try and fix the system before we hit rock bottom....but most people have the attitude "what can you do?" and leave it in the hands of the politicians. Personally this is probably my longest political rant, and I'm scared it will put me on a government watchlist as a revolutionary.
Those in power give lip service to change while maintaining the status quo.

By Dave @ 05/27/09 02:54:03 PMreport abuse

Modern government (part 1)

I agree a balanced budget is needed. Less government bailouts would let hurt, by letting big badly run institutions fail, but would hurt less, and take less time to recover from, than bailing them out and letting the fail slowly with taxpayer money...as not much has been done to change the way these big bailed out companies are run.
I agree that we should force our representitives to listen to what the voters want instead of what is good for their pockets....all lobbyist should be banned, or made to lobby transparently by online petition to the politicians...with Americans having access to the internet we could be the most informed generation of voters...Obama promised to make things more transparent and that may lead to a radical change...I would like to see online sites that show what our government is doing...c-span is a sleeping pill (i recognize and thank the distinguished gentleman from texas and yeild my 2 minutes to him, so he can thank me for my ass-kissing on his bill) we need a modern grass roots, town hall, web site with plain english translations of upcoming legislation, with areas for debate, lobbyist, the politicians views and stands on the subject, as well as a way for the voters to make their opinion count. I know it sounds like a pipe dream and the hackers will have a field day, but this will be the future of government.

By Dave @ 05/27/09 02:50:24 PMreport abuse

Looking at politicians

It's hard to say our political system is not 3rd world already, with all the buyoffs and the absolute disregard for what their constituents want.

By drew @ 05/27/09 12:50:48 PMreport abuse

How can I be the first?

I wholeheartedly agree that balancing the budget is necessary. It is becoming more clear that our government is a self-serving pig trough that is out of control. Vote with your dollars and make the representatives feel the heat of you not voting for them.

By jason @ 05/27/09 12:32:38 PMreport abuse

Listen Live:

Clark On Demand:

Clark's Advice:

Consumer Action Center:

Quick Links:

Clark Media:

Call The Show:

May 22, 2009 -- Time to expect less from government?

What others are saying