Gene Morphis ' View

To: Members of Congress and the Administration: In the face of a credit downgrade, you apparently can only find $27 billion of savings. I've heard a number of you -from both parties - argue that we must avoid "draconian" actions. News flash: we were just downgraded. It is already past time for draconian actions. Since you are apparently bereft of ideas, here are some to get you started: 1. Approve the Free Trade Agreement with Columbia. It is failure to do something simple and easy like this that makes Americans of all parties believe you aren't serious about aiding the economy. 2. Ditto Korean Free Trade Agreement. Or is your goal to screw around until the Chinese and the French jump in and strike deals with all those local businesses? 3. Close the Department of Energy. Lay everyone off. 4. Close the Department of Education. Lay everyone off. 5. Cut the EPA budget 50%. 6. Amend the Environmental Protection Act to exclude new nuclear, wind and solar pla...

Smoked a Perdomo Reserve Champagne Noir.  Apparently, it is the same binder and filler as the regular Champagne, but with a maduro wrapper.  Not bad, but I'll stick with the regular Champagne.

Dear Dr. and Mrs. Fisher, Thank you for taking the time to contact my office regarding the recent debate surrounding the debt ceiling. Your input is important to me, and I appreciate the time you took to share your thoughts. Left to my own accord I would have much rather seen larger spending cuts now, a long-term plan like the CAP Act to put a fiscal straitjacket on Congress, and a constitutional amendment to keep Congress from falling off the wagon, but regrettably, with the current administration and Republican control of only one house of Congress, I believe this was the largest package we could get at this time. In the final analysis I had to ask myself: do I believe two to four more weeks of negotiating would produce a better outcome? The answer is no, and I think it could even get worse. I'm encouraged that passage of this agreement changes the paradigm in Washington by requiring real cuts in order to raise the debt ceiling. I view the $900 billion down payment as a sta...

This is a response from Congressman Culberson to my email, pleading for some serious cuts and dealing with the debt ceiling in a constructive way. August 2, 2011 Mr. Gene Morphis 2345 Sage Road #182 Houston, TX 77056-4621 Dear Mr. Morphis: Last night, I reluctantly supported the debt ceiling compromise for several important reasons. First, America will run out of money in early August, putting us at risk of a default. The ratings agencies have threatened to downgrade our AAA credit rating, which would drive up interest rates, shrink our GDP, and collapse our economy. For every 1% increase in interest rates, we lose a trillion dollars worth of spending cuts we enact. There is a particularly well researched explanation of the debt ceiling problem at www.bipartisanpolicy.org. Click on the debt limit analysis, and pay particular attention to the Bloomberg.gov debt bubble link. Recognizing the very real threat of default and downgrade, we had to find a way to avoid this ...

Ms. Rachel Maddow: I've seen your commercial with the impressive gorge bridge in the background saying that we need government to do certain things - implication is things like roads and bridges. I totally agree.  Let's do this - exempt any new roads, bridges, interstate highways, airports, high-speed railroads, light rail systems, new and expanded subways from having to prepare and obtain an environmental impact statement prior to construction. Maybe we can get some projects and the economy going.

The following is a letter from Rep. Marsha Blackburn to conservative friend Richard Fisher. Dear Dr. Fisher: Thank you for contacting me to share your concerns regarding our nation's budget. As you may know, on August 1, 2011, the House of Representatives passed the Budget Control Act of 2011 (S. 365) by a vote of 269-161. It was subsequently passed the Senate by a vote of 74-26, and was signed into public law by President Obama. I voted for this bill because it accomplishes two vital tasks: it gives the American people the security of avoiding the possibility of default, and it charts a new course for fiscal responsibility. In this bill, we achieved more than two-thirds of Congressman Paul Ryan's budget, and most of the aspects of Cut, Cap, and Balance. It contains real cuts in spending, real caps on future spending, and requires both the Senate and the House to vote on a proposed Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution by the end of the year. This bill prevents ou...

During the recent debt limit fiasco, I wrote my Senators and Congressman.  I received reasonably lucid respones, which I'll post here. However, I must preface it by saying that words fail me at the level of disdain I feel for people who can only cut $25 billion of spending from a $2.6 Trillion budget..... Here is the letter from Senator Hutchison. Dear Friend: Thank you for contacting me regarding our national debt. I welcome your thoughts and comments. Out-of-control spending has put our economic and national security at risk. Over the past two years, the federal government has posted deficits of $1.4 trillion and $1.3 trillion, respectively. Our nation’s accumulated debt surpassed $14 trillion December 2010, and reached its statutory limit of $14.3 trillion on August 2, 2011. The debate over our nation's debt ceiling agreement presented Congress and the White House with the opportunity to achieve real, substantive spending cuts and reforms that are necessary to p...