[speaker001:] well I've had a a little bit longer to think here because uh they waited about ten calls before they found you Bob but
[speaker002:] oh really
[speaker001:] uh I I've been thinking about the fact that the uh Gramm-Rudman Act that was eventually originally passed uh to satisfy to satisfy satisfy some of these deficiencies and place a set of handcuffs on Congress just doesn't work because now we do things outside the Gramm-Rudman with consent of Congress I guess and that doesn't seem to help us to much
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] uh I mean the savings and loan was a great example of that that's outside the Gulf War was outside so it doesn't it I guess we just don't have the resolve to to really face up and and and follow those instructions if if indeed they are politically viable
[speaker002:] yeah I believe uh I believe that's right uh I guess uh uh you know really what we've got to do is is face up to the fact that uh our economy just will not support uh all of the programs that you know that the the the some of the people and I think it's you know the minority numbers not in minorities uh you know I'm not talking racial stuff but minorities minorities in numbers uh
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] uh want to have passed uh special interest groups uh have you know their own agenda
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] and I think that it's time that uh Congress faces up to what I think the the people in general have faced up to is that we just cannot really support all of those things
[speaker001:] uh it seems to me that that there's there's a couple of ways that that I've listened to uh various Congress people and the President and the opposition and other people propose and and one thing that's starting to ring a little true to me is um rather severe cuts in in the defense programs since like closing bases and closing down programs etcetera simply because I I just don't believe as much as they want me to believe some of the special interests that you talk about
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] that uh mother Russia is that much of a threat to us any longer
[speaker002:] right I I believe that's true
[speaker001:] I mean we're seeing this thing just crumble if if anything now I see the President wants another billion two and a half billion to loan them money because he's afraid of the outright uh chaos and confusion and anarchy because there's no food over there
[speaker002:] well I yeah you know one of the things that I look at uh uh I'm in the Dallas area and uh Dick Armey is Congressman from Texas is one of the the sponsors of the
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] the uh bill that's that called for the closing of military bases
[speaker001:] yes
[speaker002:] and one of the bases that's being closed or that's on the you know on the agenda to be closed is Carswell Air Force base in Fort Worth which is right you know right close by and when they decided that that was one that needed to be closed
[speaker001:] yes yes yeah
[speaker002:] there was really a a huge cry you know from the Dallas Fort Worth area about you know
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] how it's you know that one is the one that should not be closed you know it's it's not fair you know to to Dallas Fort Worth but uh you know when Amory's
[speaker001:] exactly
[speaker002:] bill passed everybody said hey that's a great thing you know we're going to cut back on some of this unnecessary spending
[speaker001:] yeah just don't gore my ox right
[speaker002:] right and uh you know I think that's the the same case that that you know would hold true for a number of other programs uh we all talk about uh about how the the uh transfer payments you know are not handled correctly uh you know the the welfare programs and some and some of those things and you know they all need major overhauls
[speaker001:] yes that's right
[speaker002:] but they all need major overhauls until they're the ones you know until it's the one that that I sponsored or the one that my state gets the most benefit from or you know the one that that my children or my grandchildren or my mother or grandmother
[speaker001:] well
[speaker002:] you know that we've all we all all got a special interest group that uh you know that's benefiting from some of these uh
[speaker001:] oh I guess we'd almost have to I mean I don't know it just seems to me we'd almost have to change the way we do business in government if we didn't have special interest groups I mean right down to the state and city levels and so on but I was wondering about
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] you know I I was a little bit encouraged although it didn't seem to work out too well in this debacle in the Fall when they last Fall when they they they did levy a tax on some of the people richer people I mean they increased that bubble tax there I I was a little encouraged by that because that's another way to cure the deficit is by higher taxes nobody wants to pay higher taxes but I mean there's going to be a crisis one of these days that's going to force us to do it anyway
[speaker002:] right right I I I agree with that I I'm an accountant a CPA and I went to a seminar some seminars today and uh one of our opening speaker our keynote speaker this morning
[speaker001:] yeah yeah yes yes
[speaker002:] was is the president of one of the major Texas companies or fairly major anyway and one of his comments had to do with the state taxes the state
[speaker001:] yes state tax
[speaker002:] the state Texas is uh you know is in a little bit of a bind tax wise and one of the proposal is uh to uh have a new state income tax but to have it only on on corporations
[speaker001:] yeah yeah yeah
[speaker002:] and of course you know he's corporate president corporate uh CEO and uh that was just not the right thing you know the the corporations are paying too much tax already so it's you know
[speaker001:] yeah well they pass it on to us anyway I I've never I've never even thought that they that they would absorb that
[speaker002:] right so the same you know right the same you know same thing applies you know if the tax is is geared to you know or or aimed toward me then it's a bad tax if it's aimed toward you it's a good tax yeah
[speaker001:] yeah that's right of course it that that that's again that that issue just like you sited Amory's bill on the bases but I I don't know I it just seems to me
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] that uh I mean I it it does seem to me now that twenty percent I I think I'm correct in this that twenty percent of the federal budget is is is allocated now for debt payments
[speaker002:] right yeah I believe at least that much
[speaker001:] or interest payment on the debt but uh yeah and and and I know if I had to pay that much in my out of my salary I mean it it it's it it just seems to me I don't know whether it it that's kind of a colloquium just use common sense but it it just seems like there has to be some there will be a crisis at some point when the Medicare programs can't pay off when the when when they can't pay off the the the savings and loans uh uh situation when the banks can't be insured any longer when the pensions can't be insured
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] then people are really are going to demand something to be done but it appears to me that I don't know if there is any short term or long terms steps without a greater crisis that takes place
[speaker002:] um-hum you know I I think that uh you know I think we're just going to have to as as Gerald Ford said we're going to have to bite the bullet and uh uh and
[speaker001:] yeah but how do you get people to do that though I mean I I I I I don't even find myself you know I see I I play that game with myself sometimes I know things are a little tough so I say well I'll just charge this on the credit card and I'll pay it off in a little bit and then then every once in a while I get a shock I get the credit card up to six seven thousand I say this is absolutely insane and we sort of tighten up or something comes by to pay the damn thing off but
[speaker002:] um-hum right yeah
[speaker001:] I I I I I think that we're not paying anything off I mean obviously we're not paying anything off we w e've gone from the largest creditor to the largest debtor nation in the last ten years and
[speaker002:] yeah yeah and I I guess that's the the problem or you know as I see it anyway that we as a nation are not prepared to do what we as individuals would do and that's you know we cut off our spending and cut off our charging when our when our credit gets out of hand you know
[speaker001:] yeah that's right yeah I saw some Japanese guy on television today he was talking about the the the trade deficit he said as long it's so it's so simple that that it was it was kind of it was kind of humorous he said as long as you continue to spend more than you continue to uh sell as long as you continue to buy in your country more than you continue to sell you'll have a trade deficit and until that comes under control uh the lending comes under control that that's your problem well I mean I I started to laugh at that I mean it seems so simplistic but
[speaker002:] right um-hum
[speaker001:] I guess it is the truth we just keep buying this stuff and we don't have the ability apparently to sell our products overseas
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] and it is a very complex situation but uh I I guess but as a as an accountant do you do you find people are worried when you talk to them about what our government might do or
[speaker002:] right yeah I think uh I think not so much about what the government might do but that you know they're worried about what they're not you know what they can't seem to do uh it's you know it's it's everybody seems to agree
[speaker001:] what they can't seem yes that that that's right
[speaker002:] that we're really in you know in dire financial situation that something has to be done and the concern is that nothing is being done you know
[speaker001:] yeah I was I guess I was a little comforted by the fact that on this Gulf War uh that we have received uh at least sixty percent of the money that we asked for and I I should imagine
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] I don't know how that's coming you know I remember some I I just don't I haven't seen a real accounting of that
[speaker002:] yeah I have not uh have not seen that
[speaker001:] so I guess I guess uh uh if I was to take a position now and sum up because I don't want to talk too long is that the short term I guess we have to some how as you say address those issues in the long term we'd either have to we'd have to raise taxes and cut back on some of the big the transfer payments and the military an and just bite that bullet
[speaker002:] right I and I'm I believe that's right okay okay okay nice talking to you uh-huh bye
[speaker001:] okay I'm going to cut it off and uh because I've got to go nice talking to you Bob bye-bye