For the first time in history, the United States lost its highly rated position in the financial markets. Even China is scolding the United States for this mess because what we do financially affects the entire world, and they are suggesting that the world move away from the dollar as the world standard.
When President Barack Obama was sworn into office, the U.S. unemployment rate was at 5.8 percent, according to statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor. Today, that rate is 9.1 percent and Georgia’s rate is at 9.9 percent. So, nearly twice as many Americans are unemployed now as they were when Obama was elected. It also means that the government is not taking in enough tax revenue to pay the bills.  
Obama, like a stuck record, keeps talking about making the rich pay their fair share, although he knows that if he was to take every cent from the rich, it would not even put a dent in the outstanding debt. 
How about making everyone pay their fair share since 47 percent of all households do not pay any income tax, including some families earning $50,000 per year, according to projections by the Tax Policy Center, a Washington research organization.
There is a non-partisan committee being formed to cut $1.5 trillion in spending in the next 10 years. This just will not cut it. We need this cut today — not 10 years from now. 
The Democrats are blaming everyone but themselves for this predicament. They are even blaming the military, and they want to cut the military budget, which is strained as it is. Just ask the soldiers at Fort Stewart, who are cutting the grass and weeding sidewalks instead of training on the range and fine-tuning their trade. 
The Constitution gave the federal government limited spending rights, yet Congress continues to spend on programs that they claim are for our own good — as if we’re children who don’t understand what is good for us.
Remember, the Democrats controlled both the Senate and the House until the last election. Now, our country is $14 trillion in debt. At our present rate of spending, we will be $28 trillion in debt in 10 years.  Each of us owes $44,900 because of Congress’s unwillingness to make serious cuts in the federal budget.  
The financial condition of our country is why the Tea Party formed. They wanted Congress to “cut, cap and balance” spending.   We must immediately cut all non-essential spending. This does not include defense, Social Security and Medicare, but everything else. The government must cap its spending at under 20 percent of the gross domestic product, and the most important action — as far as I’m concerned — is the balanced budget amendment.  
You and I cannot spend more than we earn, so why should the government spend more than it takes in?
We all need to wake up to the fact that the Democrats are pushing us toward huge tax increases — not only for the rich — to pay for their reckless spending. The rich own businesses that create jobs. If their taxes are increased, the rich people who own these companies will pass these increases on to all of us as price increases.
There is only so much money in circulation, and the government has to stop stealing from us to finance their pet projects. Yes, these projects sound good at election time, but they are not financially feasible.

Calderone is a conservative who lives in Midway. He is a professional salesperson and for 30 years has written articles for trade publications in various fields.