BY CANDACE RIVERA
Congressional Candidate Joe Carvin has some high numbered estimates when it comes to our nation’s debt.
Our current Gross Domestic Product (GDP) stands at just over $15 trillion. Before the year is over we will reach the national debt ceiling of $16.395 trillion. Our debt will soon surpass our GDP which is the value of all goods and services.
But according to Carvin, the $15 trillion number is conservative. “If you add $15 trillion in nominal debt, and account for $60 trillion made in promises for Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, that equals $75 trillion,” explained Carvin. “That gives you a five times amount of debt to GDP. Greece was 1.8 times, so we’re far worse off than Greece is right now.” The supervisor of the Town of Rye also referred to a Boston University Professor of Economics named Laurence J. Kotlikoff, who estimated the nation’s debt at $202 trillion, almost 14 times our GDP.
“I think our public officials have really let the public down. I think they’re more interested in their own job then they are in doing the right thing,” said the Harvard University graduate. “Every dollar I take out of your pocket, I need to make sure it’s well spent. I think all too often, that doesn’t happen by our elected officials.”
Carvin has been the supervisor of Rye for over four years, and has been able to cut spending by 25 percent. Carvin saved money by cutting jobs he found to be wasteful, cutting the parks budget of Rye hundreds of thousands of dollars including for the historic Crawford Park, and negotiating lower insurance rates, among other tactics.
The resulting tax cuts that have been well appreciated in highly priced Westchester County. Unsurprisingly, Westchester and Rockland Counties are on the top five of highest property tax counties in the nation. “It’s very clear to me that our tax dynamic is unsustainable. We’re not getting good value for our money,” said Carvin, who describes himself as a fiscal conservative.
The Port Chester native said he knows one move he’d make immediately if elected to Congress; introduce a law that requires the US government to have an external accountant. “The US does not have an external accountant. There’s no way for you or myself to understand how the US government runs, and to hold it into account,” said Carvin.
NY State including Westchester County and the Town of Rye, all have external accountants, and Carvin would like to see the same done on the level of the federal government. Carvin also promised to bring greater transparency to his role as Congressman.
“No one is going to have any doubt of why they voted for me. I’ll tell you exactly what I’m going to do 24/7. We can talk about tax reform, fiscal reform, healthcare reform, entitlement reform. I’ll give you solutions,” said Carvin.
Healthcare and Medicare reform have been hot button issues this election season. According to the Social Security Board of Trustee’s annual report, released in April of this year, funds for Social Security and Medicare are due to run out sooner than expected.
Funds for Medicare will be exhausted by 2024, while funds for Social Security will disappear by 2033, says Carvin. “Congressman Lowey has voted to take $716 billion out of Medicare over the next 10 years, in order to afford the Affordable Care Act,” Carvin said of his Democratic opponent Nita Lowey.
According to Carvin, the Affordable Care Act, often referred to by Republicans as ObamaCare, is unaffordable, costing taxpayers $2.5 trillion in its first 10 years of operation. Carvin is in favor of Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc’s bipartisan Medicare plan. The plan would give seniors beginning in 2022, a subsidy that would assist recipients to buy coverage, regardless if it was through Medicare or privately owned.
The Republican candidate is confident in the Wyden-Ryan bipartisan plan’s effectiveness if implemented. “The reason I’m running is for poor people. The reason I’m running is for the working poor,” Carvin said. “The reason I’m running is for the working class Americans which are being obliterated by the Obama administration.”
Carvin says he is looking out for the poor and working classes by bringing American fiscal policy in line with an agenda of national prosperity. In Carvin’s own professional life he has been very successful, making millions as a global hedge-fund manager. Due to his personal wealth, he has not taken a salary for his work as supervisor of the Town of Rye.
Carvin has taken some heat from some GOP party members for admitting that he voted for President Obama in 2008. However, Carvin has since suffered buyer’s remorse, and the Republican appears to be as motivated as anyone to see America go in a new direction for 2012 and beyond.
Republican Congressional Candidate Joe Carvin Sounds Off on Keeping America Affordable and Debt Free added by dskriloff on
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