Many of us live in houses we can’t afford, drive cars that are unnecessarily huge and expensive, and run-up charges on our credit cards that were unimaginable to previous generations.
If you manage you personal income and outgo well, then you are “living within your means.” That’s admirable. Yet, we are still accumulating government debt at the National, state, and local level that is being completely ignored during the current election cycle.
Why? Because we have become accustomed to Washington borrowing money and paying for it on credit.
- Amtrak says it needs $4.9 Billion Dollars to avoid service cuts and layoffs.
- In the CARES Act, Congress provided a $10 billion emergency loan to the USPS. The loan is sufficient to cover immediate cash needs for the Postal Service.
- Seven large passenger air carriers were given another $25 Billion Dollars on September 30, 2920 under the CARES Act. Grants prior to that were another $25 Billion.
- Title IV of CARES provided the Treasury $500 billion for “loans, loan guarantees, and other investments in support of eligible businesses, States, and municipalities.”
Have Our Leaders Gone Nuts?
Meanwhile, Washington argues over sending out another Trillion to $2.2 Trillion Dollars in fake money. (Please send me another $1,200.)
Rather than bore you with more numbers so large even bankers calculators don’t have enough digits, I’ll entertain readers with a colorful chart hot off the Congressional Budget Office website.
It’s nice for the government to show debt in purple rather red. After all, red shows debt and borrowing. Purple is less offensive.
What this chart really shows is this: If we look at debt and the gross domestic product, were in big trouble. If we took the total value of goods produced and services provided in this country by every corporation, business or government during this year, it would not be enough money to pay the national debt.
Stop Crying Wolf
I recall warning of a $10 Trillion Dollar National Debt not long ago, then we were shocked at a $20 Trillion Dollar Federal Government Debt…
This week, the National Debt surpassed $27 Trillion Dollars… and life goes on in the midst of the pandemic. Not a word mentioned about debt in the debates. I haven’t seen debt talked about in political commercials either. No one cares.
The shock to everyone should not be that we owe $27 Trillion, the shocker should be that there was no one left standing to loan us the last $3 Trillion Dollars the government has been handing out so generously.
We’re told the Federal Reserve simply created $3 Trillion Dollars (or so) of fresh money and put an IOU on its balance sheet. It’s beyond my belief that no one seems to care. Not a word has been said by Trump or Biden about debt. I’m sorry but we must ask—
- Will inflation pay the $27 Trillion Dollar bill
- Will the wealthy making over $400,000 a year pay the debt?
- Can the U.S. Government declare bankruptcy?
- Will the Federal Reserve just inflate away the debt?
Sadly, the $27 Trillion Dollar National Debt is just part of our future money issues. That’s not enough to cover all the promises my generation of 76 million baby boomers have promised to ourselves And others—
Unfunded Entitlements—The Ticking Time Bomb
Social Security (along with Medicare Parts A, B, up to N)
Federal debt held by the public
Pensions to Millionaire Ex-Presidents and Congress
Federal employee retirement benefits
Veteran benefits
Conclusion: This is not a nation living within its means. We are clearly living with a government we cannot afford.
Grand Total— A Lot of Money
Let’s face it, no one reading this article or representing us in Congress can understand how much a Trillion Dollars really is. So let’s get down to Earth.
According to USdebtClock.org each American citizen has a liability of $468,845. These are loans we don’t recall co-signing with the government to repay… some day… some way.
I showed this to a friend and he argued with me vehemently—
“The government always pays its debts… damn it!”
My reply was simply— “But what if it can’t?”