The People's Money: How Voters Will Balance the Budget and Eliminate the Federal Debt [Hardcover]

Scott Rasmussen (Author)

Book Description

Release date: January 31, 2012

When it comes to the economy, American voters can no longer count on the Political Class. We are the ones who truly want progress, and—despite what politicians would lead us to believe—we are the only ones willing to make the difficult but necessary changes that willrestore our country’s fiscal sanity.

For years, Americans have elected candidates who promise to reduce spending. Yet spending has steadily increased for more than half a century. For just as long, politicians have blamed voters, claiming a lack of public support for the necessary cuts to reduce the budget deficit. On the contrary, evidence suggests that voters are far more willing than politicians to make the compromises to eliminate this massive burden from future generations. Now, influential political analyst Scott Rasmussen, one of the most recognized public opinion pollsters in America, proves that our politicians are intentionally perpetrating a flat-out lie about their short-sighted and destructive economic choices and our hard-earned money.

     In The People’s Money, Rasmussen explores clear-headed, responsible, and reasonable ways to eliminate a deficit that is much larger than politicians would have us believe—$123 trillion and counting—all with the vast support of the American people. This is Rasmussen on:

·The bailouts—the cause and effects, and the catalyst that fueled the current era of discontent

·National defense—and the $100 billion annual cost that could be erased today with absolutely no threat to security

·Social security—and a plan that could not only reduce spending by trillions of dollars but offer a more satisfying plan for retirees

·Tax burdens—and the truth behind the changes Americans are willing to make for the sake of their country

·Government payroll—and the commonsense cuts that are necessary

·Health care—and why the current plans, from both Republicans and Democrats, are financially unhealthy

     Drawing on a comprehensive review of history, revelatory budgetary documents, and enlightening public opinion polls, Rasmussen lays out a step-by-step budget that could wipe out trillions from the national debt. It’s his job to call on the American people for their opinion. Resoundingly, they have called back with a collective voice that is at once hopeful, frustrated, honest, and angry. If only the American Political Class would listen. Until then, The People’s Money is a call to arms for the people to be heard, an ultimatum for a grossly out-of-touch American political system, and one of the most provocative, important, informed, and yet hopeful books on the economic state of the country yet written.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Rasmussen’s book makes it clear that voters do understand [the reality of the problems we face] and have given considerable thought to what changes would work. . . . Offers realistic solutions to our most pressing problems—both financially and politically.”

—Dick Morris, New York Times bestselling author of Screwed! and former advisor to President Bill Clinton

“A really fascinating read.”

—RedState

“Fortunately, at least one prominent assayer of public opinion has taken a good look at [polling practices] and is screaming, ‘Pollster, heal thyself!’ . . . Rasmussen looks at America’s dire fiscal predicament through the lens of . . . a simple, neglected insight: Polling voters about broad political sentiments is very different from polling them about specific policy solutions.”

—The Weekly Standard

About the Author

Scott Rasmussen is one of the most recognized and respected public opinion pollsters in the United States today. As founder and president of Rasmussen Reports, he is a political analyst, television commentator, author, and a regular on the speaking circuit. The Wall Street Journal says “Mr. Rasmussen is today's leading insurgent pollster” and “a key player in the contact sport of politics.” The Washington Post calls Rasmussen a “driving force in American politics” and reports that his polls have set off alarm bells in the Oval Office.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Threshold Editions; 1ST edition (January 31, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1451666101
• ISBN-13: 978-1451666106
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #374,448 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 42 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Blueprint for saving America from fiscal ruin while strengthening self-governance February 6, 2012

By Chuck DeVore

Format:Hardcover

Scott Rasmussen's "The People's Money; How Voters Will Balance the Budget and Eliminate the Federal Debt," is full of optimism for the future of America.

Rasmussen, one of America's most accurate pollsters, places great faith in the American voter to do the right thing when equipped with the facts.

The surprising aspect of this book is that it proffers common sense budgetary solutions to end deficit spending and begin to pay down the national debt - including the some $100 trillion in unfunded Medicare and Social Security liabilities.

Unsurprisingly, in an offering from a pollster, the book is chock full of interesting data.

73% of voters trust the American people more than political leaders.

62% of voters understand the gimmicks used by Washington to disguise spending cuts as cuts in the rate of growth rather than actual cuts in spending.

28% of voters believe that the government running of the economy is more important than protecting individual rights.

When voters are told that returning to the gold standard would reduce the power of central bankers and politicians to steer the economy, support for it rises from 24% to 57% with only 19% opposed.

7 in 10 Americans believe that Big Government and Big Business work together against the rest of us.

64% think the U.S. is overtaxed.

3 of 4 voters believe "average" Americans should pay no more than 20%.

Most think that tax cuts are good for the economy, only about Ľ think otherwise.

68% prefer fewer services and lower taxes; 22% the opposite.

64% think it's better to have lower tax rates and fewer deductions, 16%, the opposite....

63% of Americans believe that most of the people defined as "poor" by the government aren't really poor as they have adequate levels of food, shelter, clothing, and medical care. Further, the average American living in officially defined poverty enjoys more living space than an average European family.

There are 69 federal means-tested welfare programs spending $940 billion in 2011.

71% of people believe that people are receiving benefits who should not be eligible.

The AIG bailout in 2008 was opposed by 77% to 9% with 59% thinking that letting the firm fail would be better for the economy.

Even three years after the bank bailouts, 61% thought it was a bad idea and 24% supported it.

Only 35% of Americans believe that capitalism is the same as the free market (seeing capitalism as crony capitalism).

75% of the public want the Federal Reserve audited.

By a 68% to 18% margin, people believe that $1 billion invested by companies to grow their own business will create more jobs than a billion dollars invested by government on new highways.

When the FDA said Cheerios should be regulated like a drug, 87% of people disagreed, 4% agreed. As for government regulation of cereal in general, 69% disagreed there should be more, 13% want more regulation.

Anyone concerned about the future of the American republic should read this book.

Reviewer: Chuck DeVore is Vice President of Communications and a senior fellow for fiscal policy at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. He served in the California State Assemblyman from 2004 to 2010. Before his election, he was an executive in the aerospace industry. He was a Special Assistant for Foreign Affairs in the Department of Defense from 1986 to 1988. He is a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army (retired) Reserve. DeVore is the co-author of "China Attacks." Read more ›

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Solid Information Presented in a Compelling Way February 15, 2012

By Mark J. Meckler

Format:Hardcover

Rasmussen's latest work is his best. While politicians tell us that the American public won't accept the "hard things" that must be done to put the nation back on sound footing, Rasmussen's numbers tell us something different. In the book he lays out a step by step plan for working on the nation's immediate problems, in each case demonstrating that there is already the public support necessary. Rasmussen proves conclusively, by the numbers, that the politicians who tell us it can't be done are simply misleading us in order to maintain the status quo they love.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Startling Yet Full of Aspiration April 9, 2012

By Samuel J. Sharp

Format:Hardcover

Part One outlines Rasmussen's premise that members of Congress are unwilling to make the tough budget choices that voters are ready to accept and that this trend of Congressional action lagging behind public opinion has repeated itself throughout American history. Rasmussen also maligns the "Political Class" which distrusts voters because of their perceived ignorance and therefore reject the will of the people. All of this is important because many of Rasmussen's budgetary solutions involve moving decision making from politicians and bureaucrats to the voters themselves via referendums on social security/medicare changes or altering those programs to provide for revised tax rates based on individually selected retirement ages. Rasmussen also discusses the enormous scope of the deficit and how official reporting standards hide the true magnitude of the problem. More detailed numbers though are provided in chapter 11 where Rasmussen compares existing policy to the policy preferences of voters as revealed by Rasmussen polling.

Part Two discusses in detail how voters would address national security spending, entitlement spending, tax reform, and various welfare programs. Rasmussen takes the voters' preferences and designs policy solutions to enact them. Many of these solutions are simple and novel, but others, like the national referendums to approve changes to social security might strike readers as impractical. Readers who have read Brian Caplan's "Myth of the Rational Voter" might be terrified by the idea of national referenda on these topics but Rasmussen emphasizes that he has much more confidence in voters than in politicians and others in the Political Class....

Part Three addresses spending on corporate welfare (a very long chapter), infrastructure, education, and federal government personnel. In short, spending in all these categories must decrease in order to align spending with voter preferences but there is still room for nuanced policy proposals. For example voters are more likely to support infrastructure spending if it is predominantly funded and thus limited by revenues from gasoline taxes. In this way the parties benefiting from the spending are the one's paying for it. As mentioned above, Chapter 11 concludes the book with a comparison of The People's Money to existing policy. If all the proposals discussed in the book are adopted, Rasmussen claims that the federal deficit will be eliminated by 2018 when government spending is down to 16.8% of GDP. These are drastically different outcomes from the status quo and constitute an ideal that currently seems very far from reach.

I think this a thought provoking and bold book but I do have a few criticisms. First, the book lacks a few significant features of nearly all serious non-fiction books: an index and meaningful footnotes. The chapters are organized well enough that a reader knows vaguely where to look for certain information, but omitting an index is strange. Also, many of the footnotes are to Rasmussen Reports which are available online, but only if you are a subscriber. This creates a major fact-checking obstacle since the footnotes only list the report title and the date, but give no information as to the complete data in the report or the question asked to generate the data. For example, page 45, note 19 states "Americans Reject Keynesian Economics" but without any additional information, that is a somewhat hollow claim. There are several of these footnotes where the reader will wish he had more information so as to better assess Rasmussen's arguments. The tone is a bit snide at times and Rasmussen has a bad tendency to dismiss critics with pithy remarks followed by exclamation points. This method of response keeps the book at a reasonable length but potential counterarguments go largely ignored. Overall, this book will not be the final authority on solving our budget problem, but it will spark curiosity that will lead readers to other books on the subject. Read more ›

11 of 15 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Restoring fiscal sanity and Constitutional governance! February 19, 2012

By Helen E. Faria

Format:Hardcover

This is a good book to initiate us as concerned citizens to the nuts and bolts of the process of getting the government budget balanced and the federal debt eliminated. The Peoples' Money: How Voters Will Balance the Budget and Eliminate the Federal Debt by Scott Rasmussen, a well-known, respected pollster and regular commentator in the speaking circuit, has written about the pitiful state of American finances and proposes a blueprint about how we can correct the problems and restore fiscal sanity.

He postulates that the American people are willing to make the necessary compromises, reduce government spending, eliminate the federal deficit, etc. --only that the politicians lie to us blaming Americans for not supporting the cuts in government spending that are necessary. I wish it was really that simple!

Mr. Rasmussen's fiscal information, statistics and dire warnings, are on target, but his prescription for curing the illness, and his rationale and methods for solving the economic ills of the nation are dangerous. One cannot run a government by the whim of the public opinion polls of the moment, or ignore the constitution because of fickle, momentary public opinion trends.

The American voters today are a shifty electorate, subject to the passions and whims of the moment, and media indoctrination including the way pollsters themselves frame questions are leading voters down the path of feel-good socialism.

The truth, as SAT scores, academic studies and even public opinion pollsters in the streets show, the average American is not as well-informed and civic-minded, as he once was!

We need a limited government shackled by the chains of the constitution, as prescribed by Thomas Jefferson, whom he quotes in a different context.... And that needs to be done, along with restoration of strict constitutional governance, but we do not need to rule by momentary, shifty and trendy public opinion polls!

Despite the polling booth and changes in administrations, we are moving relentless toward reckless government spending and insolvency, as Mr. Rasmussen enunciates, but we are also marching perilously down the path of socialism in America.

What Mr. Rasmussen also refrains to tell us in his book is that there is a serious disconnect between those who are footing the bills for most of the federal (and state) spending and those who are not. Moreover, those who are not contributing are an increasing number of voters, who do not care about balancing the budget or the federal deficit, but do have a personal stake in making sure the government continues to supply the benefits and services paid for by the others. He does not even use the word "socialism," and "wealth redistribution" is used only once in a neutral context.

Consider the fact that according to 2009 IRS figures -- 10% of upper earners are paying 70% of all federal income taxes, and 40% are paying 90% of all federal taxes; 51% of Americans are paying no federal income taxes and yet they vote! Moreover, recent polls also show that 50% of Americans see nothing wrong with the use of taxation and government spending in achieving wealth redistribution.

This wealth redistribution percolates through all federal programs, such as Medicare and a myriad of alphabet soup agencies, entitlements, and benefits paid by the 40% pulling the cart to the other 60% riding it.

So the fiscal problems today are of monumental proportions because those urgings for more social spending are often those not paying the bills. And no matter how much is spent, those same citizens clamor for more. To make matters worse, the media, which have been shown to clearly possess a penchant for liberal bias by such authorities as William Rusher in the 1980s (1) and Bernard Goldberg (2, 3) in the last few years, does not look the other way when the politicians do try to curb government spending. Who has not heard the clamors- e.g.,the politicians are going to "cut the school lunches of the children," or that the politicians plan to "cut Medicare benefits for the elderly"; well, you get my drift.

The truth is the politicians fear the liberal media, and they are very sensitive to public opinion as molded or presented by the media "progressives," whether based on perception or reality.

And therein lie the problem: Voters who are increasingly spending other people's money via the power of government and who are supported by the media, a media who believe they are correcting social or economic inequalities. Until this problem of egalitarianism and "fairness" is corrected, no economic blueprint will solve the fiscal irresponsibility dilemma in which we are mired.

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largess from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy collapses over loose fiscal policy...always followed by a dictatorship."
---Sir Alex Fraser Tytler, University of Edinburgh (1714-1778)

References

1) The Coming Battle for the Media, Curbing the Power of the Media Elite (1988) by William A. Rusher The Coming Battle for the Media: Curbing the Power of the Media Elite

'2) Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News (2001) by Bernard Goldberg
Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News

'3) Arrogance: Rescuing America from the Media Elite (2003) by Bernard Goldberg'
Arrogance: Rescuing America From The Media Elite

Dr. Miguel A. Faria is the author of Vandals at the Gates of Medicine- Historic Perspectives over the Battle for Health Care Reform (1994), a work still relevant in the coming battle over the Constitutionality of ObamaCare. ' Read more ›