Increase your hand in the event you’ve ever borrowed cash. Increase your hand in the event you at the moment have a mortgage. Increase your hand if the financial institution you borrowed the cash from wished to know you probably have the flexibility to repay the mortgage.
Borrowing cash is regular. We wish a home or a automotive, or we wish to open a enterprise, make enhancements or purchase property. I am positive we have finished all these items by borrowing cash, however in each case the lending establishment does their homework to verify we are able to pay it again – until you are in Congress and also you’re spending another person’s cash.
Congress units a debt restrict every so often, setting the principles for the way a lot the USA can borrow. Properly, that “from time to time” is right here now, and it appears to be like like it may be one other political battle over whether or not to select it up or not.
And for good cause. Our present debt is approaching $32 trillion. People, that is some huge cash! I imply A LOT OF MONEY!
I’ve written on this column earlier than, making an attempt to elucidate what $1 trillion means. 1,000,000 seconds in the past was 12 days in the past. A billion seconds in the past was 32 years in the past, and 1 trillion seconds in the past was 32,0000 years in the past. And since we owe 30 occasions that quantity, if our $32 trillion was in seconds, it is nearly 1 million years in the past.
Did I say we owe some huge cash?
To me, it makes a whole lot of sense to query elevating the debt restrict due to a query that no member of Congress can reply, which is, “How and when are we going to pay again this $32 trillion?”
I mentioned it is smart to query the debt restrict, however everyone knows how the story will finish. They may increase it, and they need to increase it, as a result of the nation wants cash to satisfy its obligations.
But it surely should not finish there.
We’re dwelling past our means, so this time he must take the chance to get our fiscal home so as.
First, steadiness the grueling finances. Learn how a lot tax income is coming in subsequent yr and do not spend greater than that quantity.
It appears straightforward to me, nevertheless it’s not. That might imply we now have to do one or two or each of these items to do that: One, drastically minimize spending. Second, it drastically will increase taxes. Or do one and two mixed.
None of those three choices will occur as a result of Washington politicians, greater than anything they do or do not do, wish to get re-elected. Reducing spending could be unpopular and put their jobs in danger on the subsequent election. The identical goes for tax will increase.
The Congressional Finances Workplace is a strictly nonpartisan authorities physique (if that is attainable in Washington). The CBO says our curiosity funds will rise from $442 billion a yr to $1.2 trillion a yr over the subsequent 10 years. There’s that phrase “trillion” once more, and over that 10-year interval, we’ll spend $eight.1 trillion on curiosity funds alone.
That is greater than we at the moment spend on our total navy finances.
What are they considering?
Congress has had these debt restrict fights earlier than. Presidents Invoice Clinton and Barack Obama had them with a Republican-controlled Home. In each instances, the debt restrict was raised, however solely after spending cuts had been negotiated, and I hope that is how this present case performs out.
Congress, no matter which get together is in management, is hooked on spending our cash, our kids’s cash, our grandchildren’s and great-grandchildren’s cash proper now, and that, my buddies, has to cease.
But it surely will not cease.
There’s something extra forgotten in Washington nowadays, and that’s that this nation belongs to us. We pay the payments. We elect folks to signify our needs, and whereas I am unable to communicate for you, I’m livid that these representatives are spending our kids’s futures. No different era has ever positioned such a heavy burden on their kids. I usually marvel how our Congress can sleep at evening knowingly and knowingly doing this time after time.
I had breakfast with eight gents this week. I didn’t know and don’t care about their get together affiliation. Did we discuss politics? In fact I did. Did we discuss debt? In fact I did. I solved the issue? No, I did not, however this is what I got here away with: These males had an immense love for our nation. They’ve seen the very best and far of the worst in our current historical past. And I will make a guess that almost all Individuals really feel the identical approach.
Why is it that we are able to sit and have constructive conversations about our nation and throw out options sitting round a desk as an alternative of sitting on the suitable or left aspect of it, and Washington cannot?
Washington may be taught rather a lot from the folks if they might pay attention, if they might do what was finest for the folks and the nation as an alternative of their get together, and provided that they might do what they promised they might do if we gave them the vote.
Positive, they’ve a troublesome job, however they volunteered for it, and it is time to sit “round” the desk with their buddies and foes and do the suitable factor, which, on this debt disaster – and, sure, I feel that is a disaster — it is about getting this nation on a path unencumbered by overwhelming debt and giving us the federal government we’d like and may afford.
That point is now.
It is my 2 cents every week and in addition to, I’ve to go work on my 2022 taxes proper now. Apparently, Congress wants my cash.
Be happy to weigh in on how we are able to steadiness the finances at gregawtry@awtry.com.
Greg Awtry is the previous writer of the Scottsbluff (Neb.) Star-Herald and the York Information-Occasions in Nebraska. He’s now retired and lives in Hubbard Lake. Greg could be reached at gregawtry@awtry.com.