Grievance 43 - Indebtedness

The U.S. Constitution failed to prohibit politicians from placing the
American people at-large into unlimited taxation and debt ;

"Article 1 Section 8" - The Congress
shall have power to lay and collect
taxes (including on income under
Article XVI)....(and) to borrow Money
on the credit of the United States."

Congress set its own debt ceiling and raised it periodically on a
continuing upward swing, while also determining tax levels in connection
with government budgeting, with no referendum required for submission to
the taxpayers at-large.

In 1998, while approving a $520 billion spending bill, the government
claimed a $60 billion "surplus" which was strongly disputed by a number
of economics specialists, including Professor Walter E. Williams, of
George Mason University, who said it was a hoax;

"The federal government uses accounting
practices that, if used by private companies,
would land the CEO and the board of
trustees in jail."

Williams said the government credited itself with a surplus by including
money that was actually committed to future payments in such trust
programs as Social Security, leaving a $200 billion budger deficit.

Over the years, deficit spending threw American taxpayers into a debt of
$5.42 trillion, with interest payments on the debt of $24 billion per month, and heading
toward $1 billion per day.

World-renowned political economist David P. Calleo devoted his 1992 book
"The Bankruptcy of America" to show how government deficits lead to ruin;

"Debt has to be serviced. All other
things remaining equal, servicing a
bigger debt means less income for
public needs in the future."

Calleo argued the debt problem cannot be cured by spending less or even
raising taxes. Among other things, wasteful and unproductive spending
must end, and ways must be found to improve American productivity, the
Gross National Product.

In the book "Common Cents" with co-author Major Garrett, U.S.
Representative Timothy Penny charged that there was a conspiracy among
his colleagues to protect the indebtedness system that was sinking
taxpayers into a bottomless pit;

"We will spend more on these interest
payments alone than we will spend on
education, job training, social services,
law enforcement, science and technology,
agriculture, foreign aid, environmental
protection, and veterans programs combined."

One proposed solution to interest on borrowed money was for government
to issue its own interest-free money to pay its own bills, but
entrenched powers opposed the change.

American taxpayers were committed by politicians to pay $12 billion
annually in "foreign aid", including $3 billion each to Israel and
Egypt, and were committed to additional billions for other governments
around the world which the International Monetary Fund and World Bank
controlled.

The Constitution also permitted politicians to grant relief from private
indebtedness. While politicians claimed a "good" economy in the U.S.,
Americans were deep in unpaid personal credit card debt amounting to an
estimated $40 billion in 1997 alone when 1.4 million of them took relief
through bankruptcy laws. This represented a 300 percent increase in 17
years. Many businesses encouraged personal indebtedness to balloon their
"sales" figures.

Failure to repay credit card debt under bankruptcy laws forced higher
consumer costs for goods and services. Likewise, hundreds of business
operators were granted legal escape from debt repayment every year,
resulting in creditors balancing the loss by increasing charges.

With an AUTHENTIC CONSTITUTION in harmony with the
natural Cosmic Law of the universe, and producing High Moral Value
and Democratic Ideals, individuals are free to choose whether to be
indebted to others, public or private, and are personally responsible
for "settlement" of debt.

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