Federal vs. Personal Spending

I just ran some quick numbers and was shocked to find that if
I use the 2011 federal budget numbers,

$2.2T Tax revenue (income)
$1.6T Deficit spending
$3.8T Total spending

it turns out that the deficit spending is 73% of tax revenue (income).

If a family makes $25K, they would be spending $43.25K using the federal budget percentages.
$50K income would be $86.5K in spending.
$75K income would be $129.75K in spending.
$100K income would be $173K in spending.

Sign me up!

We must return to the Constitution to dictate and limit federal spending.
We must also come to grips with the entitlement monster.  Now reports show that one-third of all wages paid in the United States are actually welfare payments!  Yikes!

Paying the Piper

Ah, to be in Washington when the President’s budget is released.  What better way to forget Valentine’s Day than by looking at barrels of red ink?  To sum up, it weighs in at about $3.73 trillion with a deficit of only a mere $1.65 trillion this year, more than a third of the budget.  It cuts nothing really and relies on many new taxes.  The projection is for nearly trillion dollar deficits for the next 10 years, bringing our national debt to $26 trillion then, up from $14 trillion now; of which Obama has added $4 trillion in the last two years.  The House Republicans talk of trying to pare anywhere from $35 billion, to $50 billion, to $100 billion in the best of scenarios.  That’s what, 1, 2, 3%?  WOW!  That sort of draconian slashing will right our sinking ship in no time, right?  NOT!  Who knows if cutting 40 or 50% now would even stop the inevitable?  Our current national debt is now more than our annual GDP and service on the national debt in ten years will be almost a trillion dollars a year.  You can’t just monetize that without triggering hyperinflation, you can’t tax people that much and you certainly won’t be able to borrow all of that from the Chinese.  After all, they own a big chunk of the debt to begin with.  And we haven’t even discussed the fact that in ten years we will be square within the throes of the baby boomers retiring and accessing MediCare.  That means that Social Security and MediCare are headed for certain insolvency.  Not to mention the big ObamaScare question mark.  Needless to say, this kind of social entitlement spending, these deficits and the ensuing national debt are simply unsustainable and intolerable.  They will undoubtedly lead to financial collapse and social chaos.  The dollar is already teetering today. Throw into that mix the uncertainty of events in the Middle East and the effects that could have on the price of oil, which ultimately affects the price of everything else and we have a recipe for disaster. 

So how have we come to this lowly state?  The answer is really quite simple but the ramifications are enormous.  The federal government has ventured into spending for things for which it has absolutely no constitutional authority.  Things such as MediCare, Social Security, farm subsidies, the Department of Energy, the Department of Education and ObamaScare, just to name a few.  So much of what the federal government spends trillions of dollars on has no legal basis in the constitution.  And the expenditures for these boondoggles grow exponentially far beyond their original projections.  Yet, with a lackey Supreme Court and neutered governors and state legislatures this federal juggernaut just careens on down the highway with a drunk at the wheel heading straight for a bridge abutment.   Wake up Ralph, because this is going to be quite a crash to see!  The only medicine for this ailment is to admit that these and other costly federal programs are constitutionally unauthorized and financially unsustainable.  The federal government must bow out of these programs as quickly and fairly as possible.  Many of the functions could, and should be assumed by the various state legislatures.  This would provide exactly what our founders intended, many state laboratories around the country trying different approaches to see what does and does not work.  Government solutions which are closer to the people.  And sometimes the solution might not be a government one at all.  The private sector is amazingly flexible when not fettered by onerous government regulation. 

Lying to the people and forestalling the inevitable reality of our situation does not solve anything.  The sooner we face the stark truths about where we are and what must be done the sooner we can take the medicine and get about the task of righting our ship.  The longer we wait the harder and more expensive it will be.  And we are rapidly approaching the point of no return.  Let’s pray that we can knock some sense into the collective heads of the Republicans and Democrats in Washington and the 50 state capitals before we see pitchforks in the streets.

Federal Spending is NOT the Problem...

This issue with our federal deficits and debt is not a result of federal government spending.  What?!  No, it's a result of UNCONSTITUTIONAL federal government spending.  The only big ticket item that the federal government is authorized to spend money for is defense.  Period.  Not Social Security nor welfare nor Medicare nor farm subsidies, etc.  I would wager that upwards of 75% of federal government spending is unconstitutional.  Prove me wrong!

Who's Coming to Town, Santa or Scrooge?

Donald Trump nonchalantly misses a $53 million interest payment for one of his casinos. The federal government is passing out trillions of non-existent dollars to an endless line of panhandling corporations, running up the federal debt well beyond the stratosphere (if you think any of that will ever be paid down I would love to sell you some beachfront property in Arizona). The feds can’t consistently run a balanced budget, much less a surplus. There are untold trillions of unfunded commitments to future Social In-security and Medicare ‘recipients’ just waiting to bust the budget. So what is our brilliant president-elect planning? Trillions of dollars for new federal programs all paid for by raising tax rates on the wealthy. And of course they will dutifully pay them. No, they won’t shift their income off-shore or into tax-deferred instruments. Of course not. That would be unpatriotic. Hehehe.
And with all of this going on, if Joe the Plumber misses one payment on his credit card they call out the National Guard to haul him in. Sauce for the goose, sauce for the gander? How is he supposed to look his children in the eye and explain why this will be a bleak Christmas? The feds are passing out money like candy. Dad, go get some for us! We average Joe’s are supposed to pay for all of these bailouts, keep our family budgets in balance and dare not delay, much less miss any payments. Don’t do what the feds do, do what they say. Don’t follow their lead. Duh, McFly, they’re not leading! They’re not following. They are floundering. How on Earth are we supposed to teach our children fiscal responsibility when our esteemed ‘public servants’ are completely reckless and irresponsible with our cumulative national milk money? In the corporate world they would all be hauled up on charges for gross negligence, mismanagement and embezzlement.
Can anyone, or everyone say Enron?