Off The Editor’s Desk – 12-10-2014

I have written before about a couple of people that I see as national figures that we will see more of as the Presidential Election in 2016 draws closer.

They are Elizabeth Warren (65) and Ben Carson (63). Warren is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts and Dr. Carson is an emeritus professor of neurosurgery, oncology, plastic surgery, and pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

Last week I read a column penned by Carson about “Executive Orders Reward Illegal Immigration”. He hit on two of the items I stressed in my column last week, Executive Orders and the nation’s debt.

I would like to entertain you with a couple paragraphs from his column as he is discussing Obama’s Executive Order about allowing five million illegal immigrates to stay in the United States. Here is what he has to say:

“It certainly seems like a compassionate thing to offer them legal status in America and the opportunity to purse their dreams. It should first be considered, however, that we have millions of people already mired in dire poverty in our inner cities, rural townships, and places such as Appalachia who would certainly appreciate a helping hand before we extend one to foreigners.”

He continues: “According to President Obama, only those five million or so illegals who have been in America for five years or more will benefit from his largesse. He indicates that they will not be eligible for health care and other benefits. Obviously, this fits right into the same category as his promise, ‘If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.’

“Once illegal’s have legal status, it will be difficult to deny them any of the multitudinous entitlements that are freely distributed throughout our society. Also, we must remember that illegals, who have been here for less than five years only have to claim that they have been here longer than that in order to collect goodies. In effect, instead of helping five million people, we probably will be aiding at least twice that many.”

Carson concludes with, “Even this would not be a problem if we had plenty of money. The sad fact is our national debt is approaching $18 trillion. If you paid that back at a rate of $1 billion per day, it would take nearly 50 years. Many powerful nations before us have met their fate through fiscal irresponsibility. What makes our leaders think we are immune from the destructive forces of a shaky financial foundation?”

Carson is right in the fifty-year payback of the $18 trillion debt at one billion a day. For those of you looking at 50 years, that’s 18,000 days. One billion dollars a day does not include any interest. We and our kids and grandkids and great-grandkids are going to suffer to pay this off. I urge all of you to make it a point when contacting our representatives, please tell them that they must work to take care of this matter.

Thanks for reading! — Carlton