Off the Editor’s Desk 4-12-2023

Harry Truman, where are you?

Over the past couple of weeks or longer I have watched and listened to President Biden or members of his staff blame former President Trump for all the ills that face this country. I blame Biden for the high price at the gas station, fuel to heat my home and office, prices at the grocery store, shortage of material that are needed for my printing business. It took about six months for parts to come to repair my vehicle after I hit a deer last July.

Where is Harry Truman, President Harry Truman, when you need him? He served from 1945 to early 1953 and I would suspect that most of you would not remember his days in office and the sign that he had on his oval office desk, “The Buck Stops Here!”

I gathered the following information about that sign from the National Archives. 

“On more than one occasion President Truman referred to the desk sign in public statements. For example, in an address at the National War College on December 19, 1952 Mr. Truman said, ‘You know, it’s easy for the Monday morning quarterback to say what the coach should have done, after the game is over. But when the decision is up before you – and on my desk I have a motto, which says The Buck Stops Here’ – the decision has to be made.’ In his farewell address to the American people given in January 1953, President Truman referred to this concept very specifically in asserting that, ‘The President—whoever he is—has to decide. He can’t pass the buck to anyone. No one else can do the deciding for him. That’s his job.”

Ok, President Biden, turn back the clock and be like Truman and stop passing the buck and take responsibility for what is happening during your stay in the White House.

Here is a little goodie that I thought you all should know about and that according to the Capitol Guardian the interest on the national debt will hit $1 trillion next year.

“Gross interest owed on the $31.4 trillion national debt, that is interest owed on both the $24.9 trillion publicly traded debt and the $6.7 trillion debt in the Social Security, Medicare and other trust funds, will reach a gargantuan $1 trillion in 2024 for the first time in American history, according to the latest data gathered by the White House Office of Management and budget. To put that into perspective, that is more than is spent on national defense related spending, currently at $814 billion, and more than Medicare, at $821 billion. Or Medicaid, at $607 billion. The only larger single item currently on the budget is Social Security, set to hit $1.35 trillion in 2023. What could go wrong?”

The Social Security debt is money that the government borrowed and some politicians say it’s money the government owes itself.

Of all the debt the federal government has, lets address the social security fund. No one in their right mind would suggest that we reduce or eliminate the monthly checks that us retired people received. We paid into the fund for many, many years, and we earned that monthly check. So we need to put that debt on the backs of our children and grandchildren, so everyone tell your kids that they need to fund your retirement. Have a good day.

Thanks for reading!     ~Carlton