HARD TIMES -- Do Legislators Understand???

It's my opinion that the majority of today's legislators have no sense of history regarding 'hard times'. Post WW II has been an era of unparalleled growth in the United States, an era where the hard times that did exist have been addressed by our US Congress and State Legislatures by spending your tax money in many useless attempts to cure the hard times.

My parents and grandparents were raised before and during the Great Depression. None of them ever had an understanding of the term 'profligate spending' that can be used to characterize legislatures of the past 30 years. PROFLIGATE SPENDING, with no sense of how US citizens will ever pay the necessary taxes.

Legislators become accustomed to regular, annual revenue increases through the growth of businesses, added taxation and fees. Legislators inherently work deals among themselves using the old "I'll support your bill if you support mine." Both legislators get what they want, but never think about who's going to pay the costs they just added to the budget.

Somehow legislators never quite grasp the fact that the money they are spending is provided by the tax-paying citizens of the US and onerous user fees on citizens and business. If it's 'for the greater good' of the people (most likely, it's for the children) they spend, spend, spend...

This is a ongoing process that will not change until the legislatures across the country are in a bind for money with no added tax revenues to be had. We are almost there! Hell, we are there!

Today's legislators will need to struggle through multiple sessions requiring fiscal prudence to meet revenue projections before they finally get the basic idea that our great-grandparents had. "Don't spend what you don't have." Or maybe they'll never get the idea as long as they, personally, do not suffer any of the consequences of their actions! They spend to be reelected to their cushy positions of power!

JD

PS - I don't know who to credit for the image accompanying this post; unless it's The US CONGRESS! Or possibly the Maryland State Legislature!