He’s baaaccck! And maybe that’s a good thing.
What former United We Stand presidential candidate Ross Perot is really good at—besides making money—is pointing out the financial challenges facing the country.
Back in 1992, when he first ran for president of the United States—and got 19 percent of the vote—Mr. Perot went on TV with a number of charts to explain issues like government spending, debt, unfunded liabilities, and more.
The charts were a hit. It was the first time many Americans could see, and understand, what Washington was doing on taxes and spending.
Well, Mr. Perot, now 78 years old (and no longer thinking of running for president), is back with his charts—thanks to the help of longtime collaborator Michael Poss.
The charts—at www.perotcharts.com—tell the country’s financial challenges in pictures. Like the “old days,” Mr. Perot wanted these new charts to be largely self-explanatory, and they are. But instead of a primetime television program, the charts are part of a web-based slideshow in which an announcer explains what each chart means (plus the text at the side in case someone wants to read it instead).
Most of the information is taken from government sources, such as the Congressional Budget Office or the Government Accountability Office. And there’s blogs for those who want to comment.
Of course, if IPI had created the program we would likely have done some things differently. For example, the presentation notes that the $4 trillion the government has borrowed from (mostly) Social Security is part of the $9.2 trillion federal debt. We would probably stress the fact that while the government claims to have only “borrowed” that money, it can’t pay it back without taking money from taxpayers. There is no money in a trust fund, only IOUs.
And the charts put several options on the table for fixing the problems, some good, some bad. For example, while we recognize that raising payroll taxes is one of the possible fixes, we would never recommend it.
What we hope the charts do is what they’re intended to do: create a grassroots awareness educational effort that would reapply pressure on Washington and political candidates who would rather avoid acknowledging their spending problem.
Like Alcoholics Anonymous, the first step to healing is for politicians to stand up and say: I am a politician and I am a spendaholic.
Maybe these charts will start the process.