As I have said before, I am not political, but I am about ideas, and I do know money math. Google “Chart on Federal Debt” and “Federal Debt per Person.”
This is not a problem until it’s a problem. Then it’s a huge problem that will affect us all.
US federal debt per person is expected to grow to $75,000 per citizen by 2025. Let’s say only one in three people work when you take out children, students, retirees, etc. So that’s $225,000 in debt per worker. Interest rates are low now which is the reason we can get away with it. If interest rates are, say 4%, then that’s $9,000 the average worker would have to pay per year just to pay the interest, not including paying down the debt or to pay for anything else. Most people don’t pay that much per year in federal tax now in total to cover all federal government spending.
There is a lot of conversation around this, (factor in this, factor in that) but you can’t get away from the lunacy of it all. The bankruptcy court for the US government is world economic collapse. How close do we want to get?
The federal government has 430 agencies and owns or lease 361,000 buildings.
How did this happen? As long as we want our government to solve so many problems for us and be involved in so many things, and as long as we look the other way and don’t make it a big issue, and as long as we vote for those that will “give us” this or that, and as long as politicians don’t suffer when they make huge mistakes (they are playing with OPM and OPD, other people’s money and debt), then we will not avoid the financial catastrophe that will come.
Many states, like mine, are in the same boat. As one woman who was a vendor (beneficiary) of a state program to make homes more energy efficient said half panicked in a public meeting where the topic of changes to the program was being discussed “Just tell me the gravy train will last my lifetime” (I paraphrase slightly).
Government employees and unions, corporate welfare recipients, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid recipients, anyone benefitting from a government program, lobbyist and any group hiring them – those in charge pretty much have most of us covered. Jefferson predicted that when the politicians in office can buy the people’s votes using their own money, it is the beginning of the end.
At what point does the smoke alarm go off?
When smart people get together, they don’t get smarter as a group. Individuals have to be bold enough to put their self-interest aside, call them out by pointing out their mistakes, and yes, vote them out in favor of a representative who will do the correct thing. Whether the correct thing is popular or not depends on what we value as most important now.
(Please don’t pigeonhole me to be on one side or the other. I’m not on either. I’m just looking at the Emperor and telling you what I see.)
Tell me what you think after you Google the charts. Orange button.
Don’t even know where to begin…no politician will even talk about this. We have never had this much connectivity and still cannot rally together and get our government under control, or at least get this talked about. The only people concerned are working on their businesses to put in the time.
You and other like minded bloggers (more liberty less government) need to stage a series of rallies so it has to be talked about. I will attend!
Factually an absolute national crisis that we continue to kick forward onto the shoulders of future generations and an ever shrinking population of willing, qualified political candidates.
When do we take responsibility for our own actions??
Well Stated, right on point…
After years of trying to support candidates who proclaimed this and groups like the Tea Party, and seeing nothing happen, I have decided to stick my head in the sand. Then someone like you comes along every now and then and kicks me in the butt and reminds me the problem is still there. But I still do not know what to do?
Larry, you are absolutely right! I encourage you and those who also see the Headlights to vote in Nov., but also to speak out, contact your congressman and Senators, and write letters to editors!!
At the end of the day government is way to big our fore fathers are rolling in there graves seeing how over taxed we are. Lets not talk about wasteful spending government should be run like a business. Larry your so right get out and vote.
Larry, I don’t care how we dice it and slice it, It doesn’t matter how eloquently it is said, that Emperor is just plain naked. The real point is, how can we stop this lunacy?
I have repeatedly asked individuals in the banking world as well as a federal reserve board member this question. how is the money supply controlled in regard to our countries ability to print needed federal currency? I was told by the federal reserve board member, ” we don’t actually print the money, we just make an accounting entry.”
considering the rest of the world has to obtain dollars to trade on the world market and apparently the U.S. just prints needed money, does the debt really mean anything for us? other then when other countries finally say ” we are getting off the dollar standard”. ?
Crazy true!…Maybe if you don’t have a job, you can’t vote.
Larry Janesky for president!
Larry, you are right on target. The spending of our governments are out of control on all fronts; local, state and federal. Too many people have become too reliant on the government to support them. The solution to that problem is not simple and will not be quick. It will take a paradigm change by the general population and that will be hard to make happen. It will then require that those living in their current dependent state will have to die out because it’s not likely that anyone else can support them or that they can support themselves. The government grew tremendously during the FDR administration and politicians realized that they could use tax dollars to buy votes. Now with careful manipulation they can stay in office for a lifetime by handing out money to the voters. Once they have created the dependency it’s like a lifelong contract with recurring income. Term limits for politicians would go a long way towards solving the problem.
One part of the problem that no one wants to look at is that the US spends more on our military than the next nine nations combined….. in the end that is unsustainable.
Amen!
As if I wrote it myself
We (US) have a HUGE spending problem and have to get it under control. It isn’t sustainable to add $1,000,000,000,000 of debt every year. Tax increases aren’t the answer. Incremental tax revenue from a growing economy related to marginal rate reductions (make the current ones permanent – not expiring after 10 years permanent) is ok and we MUST spend less than we take in. Painful – yes, but more painful if we don’t IMHO.
Well stated. And sobering. It’s as if the weather forecast predicts a Category 5 hurricane, but many are oblivious to the warnings, while others say, ‘well there’s still time to lounge on the beach, and anyway maybe it won’t be so bad.’ The answer is both decreasing spending and increasing taxes where it can be justified by truthful analysis. The question is where are those elected officials that will be able to convince us to act?
As Willie Ponds points out, term limits would help. Perhaps by making it easier to have willingness to get away from partisan bs and act.
So true, another problem is who holds our debt. Google “China defense spending”, then Google “Interest payments to China” (for our debt payments). Apply some 4th grade math by subtracting one from the other. Just saying! Complex, and unpopular problem.
We’ve been talking about this forever. The fact is, nothing will be done. Listen to Gerald Ford in the seventies talking about the horrendous deficit, if I recall, 75 billion at the time. He was warning of the unsustainability, just as some are now. There is no political will to change course thanks to the electorate. Direct election of federal senators is a part of the problem, when they were selected by state legislatures they didn’t have to win statewide popularity contests and could make hard decisions more easily. (not that they would, or that they weren’t corrupt in some cases)
Term Limits are desperately needed. Then And only then will politicians consider doing the right thing when it comes to spending OPM.
Wow! This topic got attention!
I’ll have to check it out
Pork-barrel and crazy spending is one of the main reasons! Reminds me of a state dept purchase of $400,000 in 2012 for alcohol and let’s not forget about the 2014 purchase for a $400,000 statue of a camel in Pakistan. To paint a picture, this would be about 2 drops in a swimming pool over the past decade!
Very well said and I could not agree more with your message.The government is like a monster growing out of control and it feeds on us asking it to solve our problems. Unfortunately, I am not sure the smoke alarm will go off at all. There are too many people on the take and politicians are running successfully on the promise of benefits and programs. The tide can turn if we are willing to set aside our own interests and vote for people who are committed to reducing government.
P.O. Box 477
Larry Janesky for president!
If you want to experience the reality of the end result of what Larry is saying, visit Africa, including South Africa. The pit at the bottom.
Now off to put my head down and make an honest living so that the government can squander the taxes they take from me.
Thanks for pointing out that the emperor has no clothes. It is much easier to keep our heads in the sand.
As long as there are no term limits in congress or the senate the smoke alarm will never go off. They will continue to pander to special interest and give away the farm until it all crashes. Those in charge will be ok they always are.
an island of coLarry —
Thank you so much for these blogs. An island of common sense in a sea of chaos.