Federal Bribes to States

There’s Still No Free Lunch

It should come as no surprise that the budget Congress just passed and President Obama approved will add another half trillion dollars to the national debt; a debt that now tops $18 Trillion, or more than $56,000 for every man, woman and child in the USA. 

Of course, state and local office holders are quick to express outrage over Washington’s profligate spending as they remind us that they’re not like those irresponsible, power hungry DC politicians; after all, Georgia and Roswell have balanced budgets.   But do they really? 

The fact is our state and local government budgets are heavily subsidized by federal block grants, but you won’t find them listed under “source of revenue”.  Since forty six cents (46^₵ ) of every federal dollar is borrowed, the claim that it’s only Washington that’s running up the national debt is clearly false. The fact is more than thirty-eight percent (38%) of Georgia’s FY 15 expenditures will come from Washington.   

Roswell’s fiscal nose is also deep in the federal trough.  Over the past three years the city has received more than $30 million in federal grant money – all for worthy projects like transportation for senior citizens, a Sunday concert series in the park, low income housing in the Grove Way area, beautification of streetscapes and much, much more.  Of course, all of those federal dollars come with strings – and that is precisely the point.  Those borrowed dollars are the lever the federal leviathan uses to drive its command-and-control agenda at the state and local levels – and likewise why your voice has less and less influence down at the gold dome and over on Hill Street. 

The sad fact is most of us really do not want to know the truth; that a government that defines the limits of its own powers comes at the cost of individual liberty.  The Founders knew what to do about that.  Do you?

In Deo speramus

Richard Arena

Roswell, Georgia