These government cuts are necessary, long overdue

Musk has since shifted gears to become a free speech absolutist and has utilized X to allow independent-minded people to cultivate and grow an audience.

Musk is also now a Republican that recognizes government is not solving problems. That is not something of which I am afraid. I don’t think that makes him evil. If there is waste in the federal government, I want to know. Not because he is an ally of President Donald Trump, but because it is good for us.

DOGE is going to cost average people their government jobs. I am sympathetic to anybody losing their livelihood, but I am holistically supportive of trimming the budget.

I am a fiscal conservative. I believe all special interest groups have their handout. We can all agree that politicians have wasted your money.

Senate Leader Mitch McConnell did not value fiscal conservatism. He advocated for the same spending (or more) but on different priorities.

President Trump also financed his tax cuts through deficit spending in 2017. He can blame other things, but that is an inconvenient fact.

In 2021, partisan spending increased under President Biden. My core functions of government are to, “pave my roads, keep me safe, leave me alone.” At the same time, the left abandoned centrist Democrats and Republicans, American’s wallets got tighter and servicing the American debt became more expensive.

When Friday’s Consumer Price Index numbers came out, it told smart people that nothing has changed. It may, in fact, get worse.

Austerity is not fun. But trillion-dollar deficits are not real life. If DOGE finds $600 billion in savings instead of $2 trillion, Americans will be in a marginally better position than they are today.

But Elon and DOGE are not the solution. If the current Congress behaves like the Congresses of the previous three decades, you will find no relief.

The basic question is this: How can the United States borrow money, increase deficit spending, cut taxes and lower interest rates on mortgages, automobiles and credit cards?

There is no answer to that question.

Banks do not believe the U.S. federal government is trustworthy or creditworthy. When the S&P downgraded the U.S. credit worthiness some 15 years ago, they said it was due to the way politics in America has become dysfunctional.

While President Trump pounds his desk over interest rates, it does not matter. The Federal Reserve Bank could lower interest rates to zero. Banks no longer believe in America like they once did. They tell Americans that every single time you apply for a loan, and Americans are smart.

Tax cuts at every level of government are great politics. They will get you elected; they will help to get you reelected. Gov. Brian Kemp and Lt. Gov. Burt Jones are both on a pathway to reducing your state tax burden to zero. But that is not free either.

It involves hard choices. Georgia, like every state, underfunds its infrastructure. I have never heard a State of the State address by any governor who talked about the “big win” of reducing the underfunding of infrastructure.

I say that, so you can ask yourself the real question: What are you willing to live without? Because you already accept less.

DOGE and Musk are fanciful thoughts to people on the right, but this is a symptom and a marketing scheme. It’s a great idea, but it’s not as real as you’d like to believe.

What about entitlement reform, education reform, social security reform or the Department of Defense? Every single one needs congressional change, and they need our leaders to lead.

Our Congress fails you. All of them. They have not passed a budget in 30 years and have only passed continuing resolutions.

The behavior centered around continuing resolutions doesn’t allow for adequate planning and prioritization.

I am 42 years old. If you moved my retirement age from 67 to 69, does that solve the problem?

Not by itself. But that action combined with thousands of other difficult choices may.

Would you pay for contraceptives to Mozambique before you’d pay for Veterans Affairs benefits to reduce suicides of our military service members?

Of course not. Almost none of you would.

But your Congress does it constantly.

The wrong conversation pits the left and the right against each other, but they’re both wrong. And that is exactly how they keep power.

My father gave me the advice when I was a child that “Sometimes the people you should respect the most are the ones that tell you no.” Sometimes it’s the kindest thing you can do for everyone.

Ben Burnett is a business owner and former member of the Alpharetta City Council. He is a Republican.