John Block Reports from Washington

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by Monsanto, and John Deere. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you.

And now for today’s commentary—

Have you been listening to any of the Presidential debates? You would have to admit that they have been entertaining. But, entertainment is not the purpose. They need to address the problems that our nation faces. The journalists that ask questions just try to instigate arguments. The candidates spend their time talking about what they would do to help support our citizens. Most of the ideas require the nanny state to spend more money. That’s how they buy votes.

The Democrats stand shoulder to shoulder with Socialist Bernie Sanders. Our national debt is in excess of 18 trillion dollars and rising. We are headed for a financial cliff. The Republican candidates are not doing enough to get our irresponsible government under control either. No one wants to talk about the tough choices that need to be made. That won’t buy any votes.

My hat is off to the candidates that have the courage to make the case that government is wasteful and overregulates. Fifteen years ago, our budget was in the black for 4 years. Since then, we have had a recession and been fighting wars and have watched our debt nearly double.

Four years ago, automatic spending cuts, known as the sequester, were passed by the Congress and have helped to reduce our deficit. However, President Obama and the Democrats want to break free of the sequester and increase discretionary spending by 7%. Republicans want more money for defense. Where will they find the money or will we just borrow it?

More taxes – is that the answer? Maybe some user fees for roads, locks, and dams and infrastructure but not more entitlement programs.

It would be nice if someone would advocate reforming the mandatory programs – Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid. They represent more than 60% of our budget. Our growing debt load is unsustainable. Families, farms, businesses can’t live like this.

Don’t expect the candidates to talk about the debt threat. That’s a guarantee to lose votes. The cliff that we are speeding towards is not far off. Think about Greece. Do we want to go there?

If you would like to review my radio shows going back more than 20 years, just go on-line to www.johnblockreports.com. Have a great weekend.

Until next week, I am John Block from Washington, D.C. Next week – on the farm.