Green Bay Tea Party Today. Be Sure to Party Smart.

Try 2 Focus has the details on the Tea Party:

Bring your friends, bring your signs, bring your voices to Leicht Park for the 11 am rally that is open to EVERYONE!

Leicht Park is in downtown Green Bay, right along the river, near Titletwon Brewery and the Neville Museum.

A recent tea party crowd in Washington wasn't able to accurately describe the reality of taxation in this country. So when you go, take the facts with you.

According to the Congressional Budget Office:

• In 1970 the federal government collected revenues equal to about 19% of gross domestic product (GDP is all the stuff we do and make)
  
• In 2007 this number had declined to 18.5%, so the federal government collected less of our total output than 1970.

That is only half the story though.

• In 1970 the government spent 19.3% of GDP, leaving us a defict of 0.3%
• In 2007 the government spent 19.6% of GDP, leaving us a deficit of 1.2%
• In 2020 the CBO estimates the deficit will be about 3% of GDP

The estimates for 2020 show that we will spend about three times as much on Social Security than we did in 1970, and about twice as much on interest of the national debt. (That's just the interest!)

If someone figures out how to communicate all of that on an eye-catching sign, please send me a picture.