Eighteen Point Four

“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety” – attributed to Benjamin Franklin

In the midst of the haze, hysteria and raging examples of political cowardice that was the debt ceiling debate these past several weeks, a commonly voiced, but little noted, concern of both political extremes held that there needed to be federal funding to help salvage our crumbling roads and assorted related infrastructure and that said funding needed to be appropriated separate and distinct from any imagined compromise on the debt ceiling requirements. We were told by the political class and their media flacks that crumbling roads and accompanying injuries or worse would be attributed to those who opted not to help preserve this part of America.

A solid sounding, if otherwise ridiculous, talking point to be sure, spewed forth with solemnity but wildly inaccurate and sadly one that was never confronted or even questioned in passing. This is an example of the canards floated by our elected officials when faced with the realities of our national financial health and their delinquency of duty in addressing these national concerns.

They either outright lie or exemplify stupidity in action. These are not ad hominum attacks; they are observations based upon factual actions and responses by those who are entrusted with the fiduciary health of this nation.

There can be little debate on the collective incompetence of Congress when the following facts are ignored, or chosen to be the subject of obfuscation.

(ed. Note: the following information was gathered directly from the official United States Department of Transportation and the

Federal Highway

Administration website. This information is available to any citizen, even those who hold elected office)

On November 5, 1990, President George H. W. Bush approved the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990. It embodied a compromise the Republican President had reached with the Democratic-controlled Congress to reduce the Federal budget deficit. The Act increased the Federal gas tax by 5 cents, with half the increase going to the Highway Trust Fund, the other half to deficit reduction.

The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993, signed by President Bill Clinton on August 10, 1993, increased the gas tax by 4.3 cents, bringing the total tax to 18.4 cents per gallon. The increase was entirely for deficit reduction, with none credited to the Highway Trust Fund. However, the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997, which President Clinton approved on August 5, 1997, redirected the 4.3-cents general fund gas tax increase to the Highway Trust Fund.

So the question demands an answer: How can there be a need for additional national debt relief and highway financing when there is a tax of 18.4 cents on every gallon of gasoline sold being redirected to the national coffers to be absorbed into the general fund instead of its intended usage?

The American electorate must answer this question in the only way those who live in a free and democratic society have at their disposal; Receive an intelligent response from those entrusted with the budgetary responsibilities for this nation, or in the absence of any substantive and salient answers, vote those responsible out of office en masse’.

American can not long prosper if those with fiduciary responsibilities handle our finances with this level of ignorance.

18.4 cents of each and every gallon of gasoline –almost two dollars on the average fill up -  the number is staggering.

Demand an answer: it is YOUR money.