With our National Debt continuing to rise to nearly $14 TRILLION dollars, this Congress and Administration still haven’t seen the reality about to hit this nation. We ARE the largest debtor nation in the world and the divesting of American Debt by other nations should be sounding a resounding alarm, but hasn’t for this group in Washington.

Greece and Portugal are on the brink of financial collapse for one simple reason- their governments, in an effort to continue their massive entitlement programs, have reached the point where no one wants their debt instruments. Countries like Germany are going to either prop up their debt with loans or they face complete bankruptcy.

Great Britain is also facing the same possibility unless they too, get a handle on their deficits and resulting debt. Even the head of the IMF, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, has warned repeatedly about the necessity to get control of the debt or face the same issues in Spain, Portugal, and Greece:

Speaking to the annual conference of the Institute of Directors about the need to deal with the record debt, he said: “If anyone doubts the dangers that face our country if we do not, they should look at what is happening today in Greece and in Portugal.”

Sooner or later, the inevitable will happen as long as this nation continues this spending spree. Our debt instruments, Bonds and Treasury Bills, will NO LONGER be wanted at the current interest rates they are being bid to yield. Eventually, our Bonds will also be downgraded simply because the creditor nations and individuals will DEMAND higher rates and unless was can pay that interest to service that debt, it collapses as well.

It is imperative that Congress ends the deficit spending, reforms ALL entitlements, and returns to the Constitutional powers that are specifically enumerated in that document. Once we look beyond our own financial issues and look at the history behind every 20th Century war, we can understand we are at a crossroads- we either sacrifice today and change the course we are headed upon, or face the fact that sooner or later, we could be in another major world wide conflict.

Not only is our debt a major national security issue, it is abject failure on the part of our elected officials to end this cycle of deficit spending that is NOT reviving our economy, but placing our nation into the abyss of failure yet to come.

As the Florida Legislature debates the future of Florida’s high speed rail development, often referred to as SunRail, one has to wonder why Rep. Corrine Brown is assuring the State of Florida that funding from the Federal government will be available. I have to ask, is this going to be another Amtrak in the making? or another Florida rail system, Tri-Rail in south Florida, currently being subsidized by taxpayers?

Last year, 2008, Amtrak routes running in Florida lost over $145 per passenger for the Silver Star, and the Auto Train, $69 per passenger. Both of these trains combined routes serve the Tampa-Orlando and the Orlando/Sanford-Miami corridors, yet both have constantly lost money. Ridership is at a near all-time low and dropping monthly.

Tri-Rail, the South Florida commuter rail service, is in need today of between $13 and $15 MILLION in subsidies just to keep running. Their ridership currently is around 13,000 per day and even at that level of ridership, has lost money since it’s inception. The Sunrail project is going to be another annual commitment for Florida taxpayers to fund.

What is at issue is the $2.6 billion in Federal Stimulus funding of the Sun Rail project for the Tampa to Orlando route for initial construction. In 2004, once Florida voters understood the real costs of building a high speed rail system, it was flatly rejected. With the Obama administration once again providing the funding with the Stimulus Bill, it seems that everyone is clamoring once again for another slice of that taxpayer funded pie. Again, no one seems to be asking the tough questions about the continual need to subsidize these rail services once built and operational. Because these systems are running on tracks currently owned by private railways, the funding is also going to subsidize their freight services with special tax considerations for those subsidies. CSX stands to gain millions in property acquisition and roadbed leasing costs alone.

It is these types of projects that are proving to do nothing but continue to add to the Federal Deficits each and every year and subsequently add to the already $12 Trillion in debt that is continually rising. It is a burden on taxpayers that will continue in perpetuity unless it is ended once and for all. Keep the profitable routes and end the rest. No amount of funding is going to change the fact that an Amtrak trip from Jacksonville to Washington, D.C. is going to take 14 hours and cost upwards of $120 one way. The drive by automobile is less time and for far less money and a 4 hour airline flight isn’t going to cost that much more either.

No doubt, these projects are going to be infused with further Federal funding through additional earmarks from Rep. Corrine Brown. Her latest press release already indicates her desire to fund this losing proposition and no doubt through the earmark process for future budget items brought before Congress.

Mike believes it is time to stop this fiscal irresponsibility  and call an end to Federal funding of the abject failure in the high speed rail model. The private railroads ended passenger service in the late 1950′s for a reason- they could no longer continue to break even or generate a single cent of profit on an annual basis. No amount of nostalgic appeal, “wishing” for a successful venture in rail transportation, or “built it and they will ride” mentality is going to change the facts- the taxpayers must subsidize these ventures just to keep them running.

You can help Mike bring about an end to this type of government waste and fiscal irresponsibility. Volunteer, tell others, and donate to his campaign today.

…Many to Clients of Daughters Lobbying Firm

by Michael “Mike” Yost
Republican Candidate, 3rd Congressional District of Florida

The latest numbers on “pork” spending, or earmarks, for Representative Corrine Brown have been released and the numbers further indicate her willingness to “bring home the bacon” on the backs of hard working taxpayers. Her latest round of $54 Million include money to many projects who had hired Virginia lobbying firm Alcalde & Fay, which employs her daughter, Shantrel Brown Fields.

Some of the projects that Alcalde & Fay managed to bring home the “pork” by Rep. Brown include:

1. $8 million to the Jacksonville Port Authority for dredging and other maintenance projects. The port authority paid $40,000 to Alcalde & Fay this year. Additionally, Rep. Brown has received campaign contributions from both Princess Cruises and Tours, a Carnival Company, and the Cruise Line International Association, primarily funded by Carnival employees as well. Carnival has been trying to build a cruise terminal in the Jacksonville Port.
2. $800,000 earmark to Lake County for an emergency operations center. Alcalde & Fay was paid another $40,000 by Lake County.
3. $500,000 for Edward Waters College, a former Alcalde & Fay client.

According to the Orlando-Sentinel (August 30th, 2009 edition):

Neither the firm nor Brown’s daughter returned calls. Fields is not listed as a lobbyist for the Jacksonville Port Authority or Lake County, but she did represent Edward Waters College in 2006, records show.

Rep. Brown’s only comment:

“I have not sought money for any project that was not requested by a state or local governmental entity, service provider or business in my district or the state of Florida. I am fully confident that each of the projects will provide critically needed services and create jobs.”

There is at least, questions of impropriety regarding these earmarks. As a sitting member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Rep. Brown didn’t see any “problem” with the earmarks in spite of the fact her daughter is employed by the very lobbying firm who managed to obtain these requests. Once again, Rep. Brown and her daughter appear to be using the power of the office as they did in 1998. In that issue,  Shantrel Brown Fields had received a $50,000 Lexus LS 400 automobile as a gift from an agent of a Gambian millionaire named Foutanga Sissoko, a friend of Rep. Brown.

According to Wikipedia:

“[Sissoko] had been imprisoned in Miami after pleading guilty to charges of bribing a customs officer. Brown had worked to secure his release, pressuring U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno to deport Sissoko back to his homeland as an alternative to continued incarceration. The [Congressional Accountability] Project held this violated the House gift rule, but Brown denied she had acted improperly. The congressional subcommittee investigating Brown found insufficient evidence to issue a Statement of Alleged Violation, but said she had acted with poor judgment in connection with Sissoko.”

Once again, rather than go through the budgetary process and obtain funding with ALL members of committees and the full House voting on these appropriations, Rep. Brown uses the discretionary “earmark” and further indicates her unwillingness to reduce any of the Federal Deficit Spending that is causing our taxpayers outrage. Example after example of lawmakers using the earmark process, all under the guise of “creating jobs” no longer flies with many Americans when the Debt of this nation is already nearing the $12 Trillion dollar mark.

One of my first priorities when elected to Congress will be to reduce the level of spending and to make sure that the proper budgetary channels are used to bring money to our State. Rep. Brown’s earmarks totally bypass this process and further add to the $9 Trillion of deficits projected over the next 10 years.  These deficits will further add to the nearly $12 Trillion in Debt that is totally unsustainable for our future generations. Additionally, these debt/deficit levels will spur inflation that easily could reach the double digit level in the next 9-18 months.

Congress must eliminate these spending sprees and bring our country back to the foundational, common sense, budgetary management that will bring this nation the  industries and businesses back to our country where real jobs are provided. The goal of government during these economic hard times must be one of restraint and finding ways to reduce the size of government, not further expand it with earmarks on legislation for the purpose of “bringing home the bacon”, and not one of keeping one’s daughter employed by the lobbyists who are responsible for obtaining that “pork”.

“Corrine Delivers” alright- delivers more government largess on the backs of taxpayers we can ill afford.

Please consider making a contribution to my campaign and help me return Fiscal sanity and Responsible government BACK to WE THE PEOPLE of this nation. Help me defeat Rep. Corrine Brown.