analyticsbox | Aug 25, 2022
THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES
It is virtually undeniable that our Federal Government is headed for some kind of serious financial crisis. In the Executive Summary of the annual financial report produced by the Department of the Treasury, it says in black and white:
"THE CURRENT FISCAL PATH IS UNSUSTAINABLE’’. Don’t believe it? Here is the link to the actual report. (See also, the Debt Bomb video here).
Our representatives all know this, yet nothing is done except spend, spend, spend. Here is an informative article from the Manhattan Institute which explains this in more detail.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget office (CBO) updated its projections for the next 10 years in May, 2022. It says that if there are no new spending or tax programs, the additional debt will be 14.5 trillion dollars. Our debt today is 30.6 trillion dollars, so it will be around 45 trillion in 10 years. (By the way, this current projection is 2.5 trillion more debt than forecast in the same report one year earlier. And we know they will spend even more - they are already doing it.)
Entitlements are the major (but not the only) culprit, as discussed in No Spin #57 & No Spin #62. Entitlements have grown from 7.6% of GDP in 1970 to 10.8% this year and are projected to reach 13.7% in 10 years, while defense spending has declined from 7.8% in 1970 to 3.5% of GDP today. Keep in mind, the total government revenue averages about 18% of GDP. In 10 years there will only be 4.3% of revenue to cover the burgeoning interest expense, defense and all the other programs of government. That is why the Federal Debt will just keep growing - until the Debt Bomb explodes. If that happens it will be an ugly scenario like no one has ever seen before.
And what do we hear from our politicians, at least the ‘progressives’? What a great thing we are doing, every time we spend money we don’t have for things that we don’t need and usually don’t work. The PBS (Political Bull S–t) is making me ill. It is our tax money they squander and it rarely benefits the American public. (I am being a bit cynical here, I know, some of their programs are well intentioned, and not all politicians are like that. Unfortunately, bad policy prevails, and even the good intentions never seem to be achieved.)
Use whatever term you like, if our representatives know the problem and do nothing about it, I call that irresponsible. If they don’t know the problem, that is even worse. What is your opinion?
BOTTOM LINE
The Debt Bomb is ticking, the fuse is lit, and time is not on our side. To avoid the explosion, we must insist that Congress start acting responsibly.
Do your part, contact your representatives, and tell them to fix this mess, NOW.
LEARN ECONOMICS, THEN VOTE SMART
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