House Proceeding 03-10-09 on Mar 10th, 2009 :: 1:35:50 to 1:42:20
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1:35:48 to 1:36:08( Edit History Discussion )

John J. Jr.Duncan: congressional district of tennessee, mr. jimmy duncan, one of the great leaders in this body. mr. duncan, with his words of wisdom. mr. duncan: thank you. i want to thank the gentlelady from minnesota, she's been a lead for the congress in calling attention to the problems we're going to face if

1:35:50 to 1:42:20( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: John J. Jr.Duncan

1:36:09 to 1:36:29( Edit History Discussion )

John J. Jr.Duncan: we don't get our fiscal house in order. she just showed an article from "the washington times," there was another article yesterday in "the washington times" that said the polish currency dropped 60% in value since last august and the ukrainian currency dropped 43% since last september and those were the kinds of things we're going to

1:36:30 to 1:36:50( Edit History Discussion )

John J. Jr.Duncan: face. a few years ago, i was told that in argentina, they got into such bad fiscal or financial shape that sdenly they had to start raising the pric in the grocery store every four hours. the american people, i don't think, realize how tough and

1:36:51 to 1:37:14( Edit History Discussion )

John J. Jr.Duncan: difficult and our extreme our problems are going to become if don't get our fiscal house in order. it's mind-boggling. in fact, it's incomprehensible that congress voted a few months ago we voted against it, but they voted to raise our

1:37:15 to 1:37:36( Edit History Discussion )

John J. Jr.Duncan: national debt to $11,315, 5000,000,000. it's not going to be long at all before we are not going to be able toay our social security and pensions. people are going to face some really tough times if we're not careful. some of our leaders are looking

1:37:37 to 1:37:58( Edit History Discussion )

John J. Jr.Duncan: dreamily back at the new deal and our colleague from missouri just quoted a quotation from one of franklin roosevelt's cabinet members, what we're doing now is unbelievably, to me, astoundingly to me, almost making franklin roosevelt look conservative by what we're doing. i talked about the debt we have

1:37:59 to 1:38:19( Edit History Discussion )

John J. Jr.Duncan: under the administration's most optimistic predictions, we're going to add $4 trillion more to our debt over the next three years. i'm in my 21st year in the congress. i never believed that we would be facing the kind of deficits and debt we're taking on and facing over these next three years.

1:38:20 to 1:38:41( Edit History Discussion )

John J. Jr.Duncan: so i want to commend our colleague from missouri, congressman akin, for his remarks. i heard a lot of things he had to say and i know that judge carter, our colleague from texas, is going to speak shortly. i'm just going to take another minute or two. thing problem being discussed here today is so very important we can't emphasize it enough.

1:38:42 to 1:39:03( Edit History Discussion )

John J. Jr.Duncan: because it overrides and affects everything else we're talking about here in the congress. david walker who is the form head of g.a.o., has been going all over this country over the last few months trying to be a paul revere and sound the warning about what we're facing and what we're getting int e talks about the $11 trillion

1:39:04 to 1:39:24( Edit History Discussion )

John J. Jr.Duncan: debt we have, as mind-boggling as that is what is even worse in today's, in one of the capitol hill newspapers today he has a column he mentioned, as he mentioned before, that we have over $56 trillion of unfunded future pension liabilities. under our law if a private company sets up pension plan for its employees, it has to

1:39:25 to 1:39:45( Edit History Discussion )

John J. Jr.Duncan: fund it. and it's -- its leaders can be put in jail if they don't fund those private pension plans. but our leaders, we've done this very thing over the last few years, it started with the great society because president lyndon johnson did not want to run up, he didn't think people

1:39:46 to 1:40:07( Edit History Discussion )

John J. Jr.Duncan: 1960's, for huge deficits at that time. but what we did back then was just nothing, it was min us kuhl, compared to what we're doing today. we talked about the new deal a few days ago, in the "washington times," 203 university economists signed a full page ad and they said

1:40:08 to 1:40:29( Edit History Discussion )

John J. Jr.Duncan: this, they said, we the undersigned do not believe more government speing is a way to improve economic performance. more government spending by hoover and roosevelt did n pull the united states economy out of the great depression in the 1930's. more government spending did not solve japan's lost decade in the 1990's. as such, it is a triumph of hope over experience to believe

1:40:30 to 1:40:51( Edit History Discussion )

John J. Jr.Duncan: that more government spending will help the u.s.a. today. these economists, as i say, 203 leading university economists they continued and said this -- toim prove the economy, policymakers should focus on reforms that remove impediments to work, saving, investment, and productio lower tax rates and the burden

1:40:52 to 1:41:13( Edit History Discussion )

John J. Jr.Duncan: of government are the best ways to use fiscal policy to boost growth. unfortunately, w the opposite direction now and it is a very dangerous road. we're going down a socialist path and socialism, my colleagues, has never worked any place in this world. if it had, the soviet union and cuba would have been heavens on earth. instead, every place where

1:41:14 to 1:41:34( Edit History Discussion )

John J. Jr.Duncan: we've bet let's the government get too big and out of control from a financial standpoint, we've ended up with a few elitists at the top, almost no middle class and a huge starvation or underclass. that's the only thing government is good at, wiping out the middle class. what we've got to make more people realize is this. there's waste in the private

1:41:35 to 1:41:55( Edit History Discussion )

John J. Jr.Duncan: sector, i recognize, just like there's waste in government but the waste in the private sector les in comparison to the waste in government. so every dollar that we can keep in the private sector does more to hold down prices and create jobs than does any money turned over to government. that's been proven all over the

1:41:56 to 1:42:16( Edit History Discussion )

John J. Jr.Duncan: couny and the best way we can help the poor and lower income and working people of this country is by keeping more of our money in the private sector where it will be spent much more economically and efficiently than it will be if we turn it over to the government. i know there are others who want to speak, i've taken up

1:42:17 to 1:42:21( Edit History Discussion )

John J. Jr.Duncan: more time than i should have. i want to once again thank the gentlelady from minnesota for