The Debt Bomb: A Bold Plan to Stop Washington from Bankrupting America
by U. S. Senator Tom A. Coburn, M. D.
Review by John E. Wade II
Part IV
The Solution
When writing about Obamacare Senator Coburn quotes P. J. O’Rourke, “If you think healthcare is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free.” He points out that “… too many doctors are torn between serving their patients and protecting their practices from predatory trial attorneys trying to make a quick buck.” He estimates that “defense medicine costs patients between “$650 and $850 billion a year.” We must repeal Obamacare and put in place systems in which the doctor and patient work through a free market with competition, transparency and choice.
As to reforming taxes, the “rich simply don’t have enough money to pay all the bills.” As Margaret Thatcher said, “The problem with socialism is that you “… always run out of other people’s money.”
We must make our tax system simple, understandable and affordable. As Representative Paul Ryan said, “Every dollar that businesses spend lobbying for a better tax deal, is a dollar they’re not spending on making a better product.” There are twenty-seven countries in the world that now have simple, flat taxes and more nations are considering them.
A key point is, Tax simplicity would redirect money in and out of the government away from tax compliance toward more useful pursuits, increasing our nation’s productivity. The risk-takers, entrepreneurs and job creators would benefit rather than politicians, lobbyists, and such.
In 1986 President Reagan passed tax reform that closed many loopholes, lowered tax rates, simplified the tax code and started a twenty-five-year period of solid growth. Federal tax revenues soared. Tax reform was accomplished then with spectacular results. President Obama lacks the expertise, attitude and constituency to emulate President Reagan’s success. I believe Governor Romney and a host of Republicans could and would recognize and innovate in our tax system.
As to defense, the practice of spreading defense spending all over the country is very wasteful. Waste in defense is being funded by our deficits, so such costs must get the kind of scrutiny that we pay to all fiscal areas.
Robert Kennedy is quoted in the Conclusion: “Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues—the wrath of society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet, it is the one essential and vital quality for those who seek to change a world which yields most painfully to change.”
Washington needs Governor Romney and a host of Republicans to try to live up to Senator Kennedy’s incisive words. We are in crisis. It’s not like 9/11 or Pearl Harbor, so easily viewed, but if there weren’t such crises in Europe right now, the truth would be upon us.
The media should be ashamed of themselves for not covering hard news such as these enormous fiscal problems. Too many cover the horse race in policies without any depth in these critical issues.
