Deficit? What Deficit?

For nearly two years Candidate Obama, along with Hilary Clinton and all the other Democrat candidates, lambasted President Bush for his out of control spending. When his 2008 deficit reached 458 billion they complained that the country couldn't survive that kind of irresponsible spending. Right. The fact is, conservatives were saying the same thing! The difference was conservatives were serious about it.

Then Obama became president. In one year he not only surpassed Bush's highest deficit, he exceeded it fourfold, somewhere around 1.85 trillion dollars. This year an irresponsible Democrat led Congress failed to even pass a budget, but the continued spending is expected to reach 1.3 trillion, numbers that are so high nobody really has a clue as to exactly how much is being spent or where it's going. But not to worry. When the Democrats are in control the amount of the deficit doesn't matter. Or at least that's what they thought.

Election time rolled around November 2, and the people, tired of the self-serving idiocy of the Democrat controlled Congress, spoke loud and clear. We aren't going to take any more of it. Over sixty House seats and five or six Senate seats changed hands. Similar results happened locally all over the country as now 31 States have Republican governors as well.

So how is Obama reacting to the Democrat slaughter he just presided over? Is he penitent? No, he thinks the people still want him to carry out his agenda. In fact, he's not cutting back, he's throwing a party. He's celebrating with a trip to Mumbai, India, a ten day junket projected to cost around two billion dollars. At a time when the country is facing an economic crisis of Dust Bowl proportions, he's taking his family half way around the world to see the Festival of Lights. And guess who is footing the bill?

Remember Obama's first apology tour when he took 500 staff members along to insult the Queen of England and then tell the Middle East what bad people we are? That trip didn't even scratch the surface of the bloated, greedy waste of this safari. Three thousand people are going along! Yes, that's 3,000. They've reserved the entire Taj Mahal Hotel, all 500 and some rooms, plus another 300 rooms elsewhere. Along with his entire motorcade and military escort to include fighter jets off an aircraft carrier, Obama has ordered 34 US Navy warships into India's waters for the visit. If I was the Prime Minister of India I think I'd be worried that I was about to be invaded.

There isn't anything that shows more clearly than this how out of touch Obama is with the American people. His arrogance in spending our money is what this election was all about, but he goes around as if our money is his entitlement. Interestingly enough, while he has encouraged European nations to follow his lead, German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, French Prime Minister, Sarkozi, and other European leaders, have declined.

More significantly, the Chinese were reported to be rejoicing at the results of this election. They also want Obama's spending spree to stop. They carry over a trillion dollars of our debt and they understand what Obama, Reid and Pelosi, as well as the majority of Democrats and liberal news media, haven't yet figured out. Uncontrolled tax and spend policies will lead to a depression, and an American depression will lead to a global depression. All of which goes to show that Obama, in spite of his undermining the greatness of America and bowing to world leaders, is out of touch with the rest of the world as well.

One thing the Republicans better remember when they take control of the House in January 2011 is that tackling the deficit is one of their most important priorities. Defunding Obama's agenda and holding him fiscally responsible is a must. A couple weeks ago Obama glibly asked the Republicans where they would cut spending. I have a few ideas for his and the Congress's consideration.

1. To show their sincerity, start with congressional salaries. Put a cap on them and take the power away from Congress to give themselves raises. My recommended salary cap: President - $250,000; Vice President - 225,000; Cabinet secretaries - $200,000; Senators - $175,000; Representatives - $150,000; Ambassadors - $125,000; all other government employees - entry level positions -$30,000 with time in grade pay raises to $100,000 maximum.

2. Limit per diem travel and other congressional expense accounts such as mailings to a bare minimum, like $10,000 per year, and make them pay for their own airline tickets every time they go home.

3. Fire all of Obama's unconstitutionally appointed "czars" and close their offices.

4. Defund and close the Department of Energy and the Department of Education.

5. Defund National Public Radio and the National Endowment for the Arts.

6. Privatize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

7. Reprivatize GM and Chrysler and get out of the auto business.

8. Reduce our support of the United Nations from the 25% of its budget that we currently pay to no more than 5% with the intent of ending it altogether if the organization continues to vote anti-US on nearly every issue.

9. End Social Security and medical services to illegal aliens.

10. Allow American oil companies to drill for oil in Alaska and close in offshore to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil and ultimately lower the price of gasoline at the pumps and kick-start our economy.

11. Stop funding the International Monetary Fund.

12. End all foreign aid with the exception of Israel, and except for emergency relief to be used in such disasters as the 2006 Indian Ocean tsunami and the Haiti earthquake, etc.

13. Close down the Federal Reserve Bank and let the Free Enterprise System determine inflation on its own.

14. No more stimulus packages. That alone would cut the deficit in half.

15. Ban all earmarks from spending bills.

16. Adopt a Flat Tax or a Fair Tax system with no loopholes for anyone to make taxes fair to everyone across the board.

17. End NAFTA and the excessive taxes and regulations that force companies to outsource jobs overseas.

18. Pass a Balanced Budget Amendment.

There's where Congress can start, and if they need more help I'm sure with a little thought it wouldn't be hard to find many other areas that could be cut as well. All it takes is the will to do it, something none of the greedy, money-grubbing minds in Washington have had recently. The deficit isn't going to go away with the president out of town as often as he is so it's going to be up to Congress, and it's going to be up to us to hold their feet to the fire.