OKLAHOMA CITY (February 14, 2024) - Today, Governor Kevin Stitt and Treasurer Todd Russ celebrated Oklahoma's strong financial standing after Fitch Ratings released their revised Rating Outlook, moving Oklahoma’s rating from 'Stable' to 'Positive.' Fitch Ratings becomes the third rating agency to improve Oklahoma's outlook within the last year, following Moody's and S&P.
Aside from Co-Chairs Wallace and Thompson, other committee members are:
- gather information related to proposed agency budgets;
- evaluate the extent to which each agency fulfills its statutory responsibilities;
- determine the amount of revenue available to the agency from various sources;
- compare current budget information to prior agency requests; and
- conduct an investigation of any agency as needed to fulfill its responsibilities.
- The office also is authorized to conduct performance evaluations, independent comprehensive performance audits and will provide up-to-date information and analysis on state spending and the performance of state programs and service to the House and Senate to aid in the yearly appropriations process.
In a rare moment of fiscal discipline, Congress’ passage of the Budget Control Act (BCA) in 2011 placed caps on discretionary spending. Since its passage, Congress has routinely violated the spending caps with no regard for the consequences. This latest deal effectively renders the BCA dead.
On top of the new spending, the deal suspends the debt limit for the next two years, piling on as much as $2 trillion more in debt. Hitting the debt limit ought to be a wake-up call for lawmakers to confront our nation’s unsustainable spending. Instead, many in Washington will celebrate the increased spending from BCA’s demise. But anyone concerned about the nation’s fiscal health should be alarmed.
This deal comes less than four years after President Trump campaigned to balance the budget by cutting spending and after his administration produced three budgets to move toward fiscal sustainability. Few forces would threaten the president’s pro-growth agenda more than $22 trillion in debt fueled by unchecked government spending. If President Trump takes this deal—the worst in a decade—his fiscal legacy will be no different than the Obama and Bush administrations that he has criticized.
If you wish to contact Russell Turner, or want to subscribe to his email loop, email him at rdrepublican@windstream.net.The Conservative View
by Russell Turner
Pizza and Politics
We Americans have had things so easy for so long that we expect all of our problems to be solved in about the time it would take to cook a pizza. All of us at one time or another have ordered a pizza, usually in about 10 minutes we can pick up our meal and avoid starvation. We have lived in a fast paced society for so long that we think that all of our problems should be solved in a short period of time; sadly that is seldom the case.
Just a little over a week ago we Americans made history by giving the liberals a stinging defeat. While it is reassuring to see that the American people remembered their conservative roots, we need to come to the realization that electing conservative leaders is merely the first step. The problems in our country didn’t come about over night and the solution to our country’s problems will not happen overnight. We Americans have become too comfortable with all of the government programs that our citizens take advantage of at an ever increasing rate. We Americans said with a loud voice that we want more fiscal responsibility and smaller government, but it will be interesting to see if that mentality holds true when the tough decisions have to be made.
For this country to get its financial house in order, there will have to be a major change of attitude across the entire country. It is a fact that whenever some program has to be cut we all want it to be someone else’s program and not ours. Our government budget has become so large that merely trimming the fat will not be sufficient. Over the years our elected leaders have been so concerned with getting re-elected that they would create programs and spend money that we didn’t have to garner votes for the next election cycle. While we like to blame the politicians for all of the problems of our country, we the citizens bear a large part of the blame ourselves. Whenever we adopt the attitude of asking the politicians “what can you do for me today” the simple politician will come up with some scheme to satisfy the voters for a day, whereas the true statesman is looking for a solution for the future and will not play the instant gratification game. Wanting a pizza in 10 minutes may not be inappropriate, but we Americans must be ready for the long haul if we are able to correct the excesses of the past. We are just like a person starting a diet; the decision has been made, now the work begins.
If you wish to contact Russell Turner, or want to subscribe to his email loop, email him at rdrepublican@windstream.net.
The Conservative View
by Russell Turner
Paychecks and Payment Books
We Americans have become a people that, for the most part doesn’t ask what something costs but rather how much our payments will be. Whenever we want to purchase something we want to know if our paycheck is large enough to cover the additional payments that will be required for the new purchase. When I was growing up most of my neighbors, like my parents, tried to avoid going into debt for anything. Many of them lived through the great depression and knew firsthand the pitfalls of being in debt. They understood that anything that you owe for can potentially belong to someone else if you fail to make the monthly payment. I can remember one of my grandfathers telling the story about the time during the depression that he almost lost his home because he owed a small amount of money on it and the payment was due and he had no job or cash to make his payment; fortunately he had a friend that was able to loan him the funds to save his home. Making payments based upon what your paycheck is can be a risky form of economics. Even in the best of times there can be downturns that can cause any of us to be without an income for a period of time.
Borrowing money is always a risk but it can be necessary for economies and business to grow. I was raised to save a nest egg and to have a substantial down payment then borrow the rest. The point that I am trying to make is, while debt can be necessary, we need to be cautious when borrowing. I believe that our government should exercise the same cautions that any good businessman would use in his business.
How would you feel if your grandparents, when they were young, could purchase items on credit and delay the payments for their grandchildren to pay? Any logical person would not think that would be a good idea, especially if he or she was the grandchild that had the inherited responsibility to pay for their grandparents spending spree. If we would only take the time to look at what is going on with our national spending, we are doing the exact thing to future generations of Americans.
It was Thomas Jefferson that said, “It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes”. We Americans will be voting on November 2nd for the people to run our government, I urge you to choose the ones who understand the proper use of paychecks and payment books.
The Conservative View
by Russell Turner
Handwriting on the Wall
I guess it is just a part of human nature for us when we are young to believe that we will never grow old and we will always be strong and energetic. I am reminded of an old story in the Bible about an ancient king being warned by a hand that appeared and wrote a message of warning to the king. As I see a little more grey hair each day, I also see the need to prepare for the day when I can no longer work yet still have the income to live a modest but comfortable life. As a conservative I believe in personal responsibility and the using of good fiscal sense, if we don’t see the handwriting on the wall we are all going to pay a huge price in our so-called golden years.
A lot of people have faith in some retirement system either from Social Security or some state retirement plan. Both of the systems are experiencing problems and I feel that the problems will only get worse. In the case of Social Security, the baby boomers are retiring and the number of those paying and those receiving are getting closer together every day. Another fact; the retiring baby boomers were paying more into Social Security because many of them were at their peak salary. In the case of many of the state retirement systems, the contributions were borrowed from by the lawmakers who were in charge of the system to fund other government projects or the funds were invested in a falling stock market.
Some states are already raising the retirement age to prolong the inevitable reductions of benefits. Social Security is also facing a train wreck, we have heard the warnings for years but very few politicians have the will power to do the things necessary to fix the problem. I do know that we Americans have gotten into the mentality that problems can be fixed in a year or two, but we are facing decades of sacrifice in order to correct the problem. I have noticed that many Americans are unwilling to make the sacrifices; far too many of us have the mentality of just let someone else take the hit and leave me alone. For those of us that can see the handwriting on the wall, we know that we need not rely upon the government but to rely upon our own abilities to provide for ourselves in our later years.
If you wish to contact Russell Turner, or want to subscribe to his email loop, email him at rdrepublican@windstream.net.The Conservative View
by Russell Turner
Déjà Vu
Déjà vu is the feeling that we have been somewhere before. One of our greatest abilities is to learn from our mistakes. If we are smart, we will learn from the mistakes of other people that have had the same problem. Sadly we know this, but far too often we choose to ignore common sense and go down the path that will ultimately lead to problems that could have been avoided. Over the past few days there have been financial troubles that are causing ripples across the world.
Those problems have originated in the nation of Greece. No longer are investors just losing boatloads of money, people are starting to lose their lives! I have found that we humans love our material possessions, and whenever anything or anyone threatens those possessions chaos isn’t very far behind. Everyone from air traffic controllers to teachers left their posts. Tens of thousands of protestors hit the streets, hurling rocks and Molotov cocktails. There were several deaths reported due to the unrest in Athens alone. The European Union and the International Monetary Fund have pledged 143 billion dollars to bailout Greece but they are demanding concessions such as slashing public sector wages, freezing pensions and boosting taxes.
The Greeks don't want to see their wages, salaries, and standard of living collapse. And they're stark raving mad; especially because the measures are being crammed down their throats at a time when unemployment is already running at a six-year high of 11.3 percent. The problems in Greece stem from a simple fact: The country lived way beyond its means for far too long! Politicians borrowed and spent like mad, assuming the day of reckoning would never come. The major cause of the problem in Greece was caused by interest rates taking huge jumps.
Our government has manipulated interests for a long time in this country to keep them low; with all of the deficits in our national budget we could be facing similar problems in this country. If Greece had tried to get its house in order before interest rates surged, it probably would have avoided the disaster unfolding before our eyes.
The path that the Greeks took sounds a whole lot like the path that our leaders have taken. I hope that we can avoid the feeling of Déjà vu and the problems the Greeks are experiencing. We Americans are not that much different than the people of Greece. I do not want to see riots in our cities because of a government failing to put common sense ahead of deficit spending.
The Conservative View
by Russell Turner
Armadillo Holes and Horses
Anyone that has ever ridden a horse knows you have to have some intelligence for your protection and that of the horse. A good cowboy knows that he has to be aware of his surroundings and know the territory. If the cowboy is riding the horse on a well maintained race track, he can run the horse at full speed and not worry about dangers such as armadillo holes and such. On the other hand, if the cowboy is riding in an unfamiliar field he must go at a slower rate and watch for dangers that could hurt him or his horse. If the cowboy is riding in the forest he can run the risk of being knocked off by low hanging limbs. In the long run, the most sensible thing to do is to slow the horse down before you hurt him or yourself. Riding horses is a lot like spending money; all of us need to slow down to avoid being hurt.
In the 2009 fiscal year we Americans have run up a budget deficit of 1.4 trillion dollars. It is easy for us to hear those numbers and become numb to them, but that amount is roughly 10 percent of our total economy. The alarming thing is that amount is triple what it was just a few short years ago. The only time the deficit came close to reaching that percentage was during times of war such as the Second World War. There are projections that over the next decade the red ink will increase by an additional 7.2 trillion dollars. Over the past few days there has been talk that congress will have to raise the debt ceiling. The current $12.1 trillion limit could reportedly jump by as much as $1.8 trillion.
It has become a joke that our government will ever limit the growth of debt. When the debt reaches the $14 trillion point the ceiling will be raised again. Out here in the real world you would be hard pressed to find a banker that would just keep loaning you more money, especially if you were already in debt so deep that you couldn’t pay off what you already owe. We Americans need to take a lesson from the cowboy who knows when to slow the horse down and prevent injury to himself and his horse. Like a horse stepping into an armadillo hole, the black hole of debt can be just as dangerous.
