Budget Debt
The US Government spends more than it takes in just about every year. Here are the budget deficit numbers by year since 1932. If anyone wants to know why we have a budget problem in this country, all you have to do is look at the running debt clock. We are now at $21T in debt.! But, if big numbers alone don't get your attention, then lets put the $21T in perspective, it represents over 100% of GDP. The nation owed $10.6 trillion on Jan. 20, 2009, when President Obama was sworn in, and he doubled it – more than Bush piled up in two terms. There is bipartisan agreement that we cannot sustain this level of debt. There is also bipartisan agreement that we must correct the outflows exceeding inflows that drives the debt higher every second (see debt clock) . Everyone who manages a checkbook has seen this problem before and knows how to correct it - reduce expenses and increase income. Increasing revenues is critical to the solution, but will not have an immediate impact. Reducing expenses is also critical to the solution and can generate immediate impact. It is the only thing in your control instantly! Sequestration and government shutdown revealed that with immediate impacts in 2012 & 2013. Everything else we here about this subject beyond these two facts is just noise and should be ignored. The political left and right cannot agree on how to correct this problem. The left solution to our problem is to increase taxes on the rich to increase income. Currently the top 20% of income earners pays 80% of the federal tax burden. So do we want them to pay 100%? 110%? 120%? Maybe just write the check every year for the entire cost of government, whatever it is? Clearly this is not a solution. The right wants us to reduce spending and taxes, which was also a poor solution in a recessionary economy, but in a growing economy in 2017 has promise. But, the truth is we must do both (reduce expenses and increase income), we must do it now and it will not be easy. All the political hot air outside these two facts is simply a distraction from the difficult but obvious answer. Trump's tax law in Dec 2017 had an economic stimulation effect. A growing economy will usually increase income (tax revenues for the government) over the 10 years, but not immediately. The Trump tax reform due to money overseas that will be returning home, will have immediate positive revenue impacts. His military defense spending will have a negative national debt impact. To immediately begin to impact our budget deficit and debt problem whiling anticipating increased revenues we also must immediately and dramatically cut spending. That MUST include discretionary spending AND entitlements (Social Security, Medicare & Obamacare) which represent 90% of the problem. The left will say you are hurting education, the homeless, healthcare of all Americans, the elderly and on and on. The right will shout "we are already taxed enough". All This whining MUST be ignored. No one wants to hurt themselves, their families or their neighbors We have no choice but to intelligently make these difficult decisions while minimizing the pain. But there will be pain. And our representatives MUST ACT NOW. It is a dereliction of duty if they do not. The 2 year budget passed Feb 2018 does not do this. It was a purely bi-partisan negotiation (which is good) but gives everything to everyone and makes no tough decisions on spending. Below you can watch the ongoing debate on this critical issue. And hopefully see the solution we need develop. Then, in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic arrives and budget busting, debt and printing money takes on historic proportions!

So, this is new(s)?

1/15/23
from The Gray Area:
1/15/23:
We have had a debt problem for decades, and nobody in the political establishment much cared. Democrats would keep spending and raising debt limits every chance they could. Republicans would squawk about the debt and then spend, too. Obama laughingly said that 'with such low interest rates, we don't have to worry about debt'. Everybody thought, kick the  can down the road, someday in the future, someone will have to take care of this. Well interest rates are not low anymore and are going to continue to climb. How does this ignoring of the debt stop? When one party or the other decides now is the time. Republicans just got elected in the House, where purse strings are controlled, and to there credit, they say now is the time. Coming right behind a big spending Omnibus in December, which most Republicans did not support, this is no surprise. Still, the Democrats yell that Republicans are creating a default crisis.

Enter Janet Yellen on Friday. She stated that the National Debt is a crisis, and, that we will exceed the debt limit this Thursday . Oh, who could possibly have known we would face such a catastrophe, ah, one month ago!?!  Certainly not the Congress, who voted, the President who signed it, or the Republicans who caved for some pork, the Omnibus in December. Who believes this is news? It certainly isn't new. It certainly isn't a surprise. So, why is this newsworthy now? The Republican House majority has announced they will try to control spending and get control of the national debt. They have already passed a bill to dial back billions of funding for more IRS agents. This is radical to the free spending Democrats. So, the narrative needs to be re-established that the radical right, by trying to fix the problem the left created, are flirting with catastrophic economic damage. Again, enter Janet Yellen. The crisis of an out of control national debt has worried serious minded people for 30 years. Many remember the 1980s worldwide debt crisis. Ronald Reagan was called radical and dangerous when he led the strategy to fix that problem. Today the Democrats still prefer to ignore the problem. They prefer to spend. Do they care if the United States defaults on it debts? Just during Biden's first two years they have spent:

  • trillions on COVID, again & again...
  • trillions on climate change
  • trillions on Omnibus
  • trillions on infrastructure
  • billions on BBB (referred to a Build Back Broke)
  • billions on college loans and loan forgiveness
  • billions bailing out Dem states (calling it COVID)
  • billions helping Ukraine
  • billions on Iran nuclear
  • billions supposedly on inflation (that they caused, stay with me, by spending)
....and, now, the Democrats want to make you think they discovered a debt crisis. The Republican House says we will fix the debt ceiling issue this week, if the Democrats will work with them on spending.  The Democrats in Congress and President Biden say, well, no. The truth is the debt crisis and the threat of default is a both party spending issue that only the Democrats want to ignore. By calling attention to it, the Democrats should be committing political suicide. But, with the media providing cover, they always have the chance to walk out of a sewer they created, smelling like a rose. More From Forbes:


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