Retired accountant Hal Mason, after having worked with budgets for over 40 years, has finally answered the question – Why won’t Congress balance the budget? The simple fact is, They Can’t, even if they closed every department, and laid off every employee, including the military and all its branches, the budget could not be balanced. Mason says he was stunned when he made the startling discovery that Congress could not balance the budget, even if the government was completely shuttered.

A glance at the president’s budget data, for 2012, shows the extent of the problem, with Washington spending $3.8 trillion for the fiscal year, but collecting only $2.5 trillion through taxes, resulting in a deficit of $1.3 trillion – That’s more than Congress appropriates to operate the government. The problem remains a simple one, says Mason, spending for mandatory programs and interest is more than the tax revenue collected, “there isn’t one dollar left to fund the military or any federal employee or office.”

Can Congress balance the budget? Sure they can, but taxes would have to increase by 50 percent, or they could cut entitlements and pensions, but you better be ready for riots in the street like in Greece.  And if you think Greece has a problem, the United States’ debt is 32 times that of Greece. One more look at the budget reveals an even deeper problem, and that is spiraling debt that now exceeds the total U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a liability that exceeds our nation’s annual economy.

The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America reads as follows:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

At 7:03pm ET on Tuesday, 28 February 2012, our 112th Congress violated this covenant with the American people by voting 399 to 3 in favor of H.R. 347, a bill which breezed through the Senate with unanimous consent and now lacks only President Barack Obama’s signature to become law. The three Congressmen who voted Nay were Paul Broun (R-GA-10), Justin Amash (R-MI-3) and Ron Paul (R-TX-14). Those who voted Yea are listed here:

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=h2011-149

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

The full text of H.R. 347 is available here:

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h112-347

A printable PDF version of H.R. 347 is available here:

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112hr347enr/pdf/BILLS-112hr347enr.pdf

Obviously aimed at the Occupy Movement, these modifications to U.S. Code Title 18 Section 1752 will seriously diminish the right of American citizens to petition their Government for a redress of grievances by outlawing protests where key government officials or other VIP’s may be nearby. Federal law enforcement agents will be empowered to bring these charges against Americans engaged in political protests anywhere in the country, and violators will face criminal penalties that include imprisonment for up to 10 years.

What are we becoming ?