Posted on 11/08/2019 4:40:41 AM PST by Kaslin
We don't care. You can check Pew or Gallup or any other polling company. We are running deficits that ought to make us nauseated with worry -- the federal deficit passed $1 trillion in September -- but we're not interested. Well, a majority of us anyway. About 48% of those polled by Pew in January said that reducing the deficit should be a top priority for the president and Congress. As recently as 2014, 72% of the public agreed with that statement.
Republicans (54%) are in favor of reducing the deficit at higher rates than Democrats (44%), but concern has declined among all voters. And the politicians? Well.
President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign claimed that his policies would produce so much growth that the U.S. would enjoy a federal surplus of trillions of dollars. Trump also told The Washington Post that he would eliminate the $19 trillion federal debt "very quickly ... like within eight years."
But funny thing: You combine $2 trillion in tax cuts over 10 years with about $2 trillion in spending increases over the same period, and whadya know, even with decent economic growth (slowing now), you get federal deficits growing by 40% year over year, and that's with full employment, no recession, low interest rates and no financial crisis. Current debt: $22 trillion.
As for the Democratic candidates for president, "Saturday Night Live" captured it pretty well with Kate McKinnon portraying Elizabeth Warren. Asked how she could pay for her $34 trillion "Medicare for All" plan, Warren/McKinnon confides: "We're talking trillions. When the numbers are this big, they're just pretend."
That's precisely how Warren, Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris and, to an extent, Pete Buttigieg and Joe Biden are treating the budget. They pick numbers out of the ether. Buttigieg would spend $1 trillion on climate policy, and some unknown amount to expand Medicare to "all who want it." Biden is less disconnected from reality than his competitors, but he would increase education spending by adding $30 billion to Title I, and increase the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour. As McKinnon put it, "Want to be red-pilled? Money doesn't exist."
So why are the 48% who prioritize reducing deficits right and the spending gluttons wrong?
One reason is who we owe the money to. China holds about 8% of our debt. That gives them leverage. They'd pay a price if they dumped all of their U.S. bonds at once, but as former Rep. Tom Campbell points out, China is an autocracy, and can impose costs on its people more easily than we can. In a crisis involving Hong Kong or North Korea, they might exercise that option.
Another reason for concern is what we're spending the borrowed funds on. We're not investing primarily in children, infrastructure, scientific research and other things that boost national income. We're spending on elderly people whether they are needy or not -- and most are not. In 2016, just 9% of Americans over age 65 lived below the poverty line. That compares with 18% of children. Yet Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid account for 84% of spending increases over the coming decade.
When so much of our budget goes to debt service, we are misgoverned. The federal government currently spends more to pay interest on the debt than it does on the State Department, transportation, employment, training and social services. And because 40% of our debt is held by foreigners, we are sending money overseas rather than spending it at home.
Interest rates are low, but there is no guarantee that they will remain so -- and history suggests that interest rates fluctuate. Any emergency -- fiscal, political, environmental or military -- could place us in a situation in which lenders will demand much higher returns on bonds. There is simply no excuse for being so heavily indebted when the economy is strong and we are at peace.
The larger the share of the economy that is taken up by government, the less efficient we become as a society and the more slowly the economy grows. A larger government also means more important life choices -- like whether you can get a hip replacement at age 85 -- are decided by politics. More politics translates to less freedom.
Today, the Republicans are the fiscally irresponsible party and the Democrats are the fiscally insane party. But it's not hopeless. Serious people on both sides of the aisle have proposed paths back to sanity. Let's hope more Americans get serious about the need.
And this is how your empire dies.
What planet does this writer live on?
Even when we had a surplus and were starting to reduce the debt during the late ‘90s, the Democrats began talking about new entitlement programs that would bring back deficit spending.
At the time, Fed Chair Alan Greenspan famously sided with George W Bush in saying the priority should be 1) continued debt reduction, 2) lower taxes, and 3) increased spending.
My optimism was crushed when Medicare Part D was implemented in 2004. I now agree with Donald Trump .... bring on the tax reductions and don’t worry about the future fall ... it will happen anyway. We have simply reached the point where people have become addicted to ‘free stuff’.
Unless you are for huge import tariff increases then shut up about the budget deficit. Hypocrites.
Is Mona still a never-Trumper?
No one wants to make any hard choices. People want to pretty much do what they’ve always done and just magically make the deficit go away. The focus is usually on getting more revenue, but this is a mistake. The focus needs to be on reduced spending.
If people grasp just how bad and how hopelessly corrupt the Swamp really is, they might support massive cuts in government. I’d like the federal budget cut in half. As an initial goal.
But everyone has their sacred cow and few people will accept deep cuts. So we are likely to keep spending the way we spend and the deficit it likely to remain very high.
Embracing LIMITED government has so many benefits. I hope that some day we do that.
>> Republicans are the fiscally irresponsible party and the Democrats are the fiscally insane party.
That’s a keeper right there.
I’ve said for a long time I’m a Republican because maybe half the Republicans believe in fiscal responsibility, while basically no Democrats do .
If I were not a Christian I’d be terrified. But this is not my home. This is The Matrix. This is like a VERY realistic reality video game. I am not here. I simply occupy the character here.
All of that is allegory, but it accurately describes how I look at this world. I see every human being, when they are born, as an NPC (non-player character) in a video game. When one accepts the Lord, they become a player character. They are “occupied” by “born again” spirit who’s home is not here, but in eternity.
Yes, the world is screwed, as it has been since the garden. The US is only part of it this time, though.
And this video from six years ago sums up the whole thing, in a very entertaining way:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlN28DoL5qA
The boomer’s children are the little girl, IMO.
For perspective, there are 3.04 trillion trees on the planet earth.
A perpetual and exponentially increasing Debt load is the function of ALL Debt Based Monetary systems, it will continue until it collapses completely. It is Intentionally Designed this way.
Within the last week, interest rates suddenly moved up sharply.
We have been very lucky over the last 11 years. For much of that period, interest rates on federal debt have been near record lows.
If interest rates return to their historical average, I don’t even want to think about what our deficits are going to look like.
I do. I will gladly opt out of Socialist Security and Medicare. Just give me the money I've put in over the last 4 decades interest-free, not adjusted for inflation and I will take responsibility for myself come hell, high water or blessings.
The deficit, only 12 years left!
WOW! I just found out that Rush (I haven’t listened to him in years) has flip flopped on the deficit! I had no idea!
The sky is falling, the sky is falling! And yet after hearing over and over and over again, FOR YEARS, how the looming deficit (or Daficit) is “the END OF THE WORLD”, NOTHING HAPPENS!
At some point, you have to ask yourself, WTF! Apparently Rush has awakened to the realization that “the deficit” isn’t the bogey man Conservatives made it out to be.
“The deficit” was NEVER a “sexy” issue. Now it has rightly become a NON issue. Maybe it always was.
Our politicians are not math wizards either. They must be like me now, I give up, I cannot worry about Americas debt, nobody will do anything about it. Hopefully I will be dead when it all collapses. I tried telling my children, they don't care, no one cares.
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