Total national debt
1-1-2016 = $18,922,179,009,420.89
1-1-2020 = $23,201,380,134,806.73
09-30-2023 = $33,167,334,044,723.16
The current federal budget deficit is over $1.7 trillion
Annual interest on the debt is over $674 billion
So, which programs do we cut?
How much do we raise taxes and on whom?
Or
Do we do nothing?
QUINNSCOMMENTARY 
Let’s get to the heart of the problem: funding for programs have Congressional supporters and sponsors> the more Congressional support the better assurance of continued funding for Federal programs spending. Also Congresspeople swap support: “if you help me I’ll help you”.
Continued Federal spending is dependent upon continued Congressional authorization in budget spending.
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A budget and spending offer no guarantee of revenue sufficient to cover either – as the data show.
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In 1971, my calculus teacher use to refer to the “national debt expressed in pennies” as a really big number. Quaint. It was $427 Million, which is about $2.989 T in current dollars. The ratio of debt to GDP was 427M / 1.279 T = 33.4%
Nowadays the debt is expressed as the sum of the amount held by the public and the amount different governmental agencies owe each other. So $33.68T includes about $24.92T publicly held and $8.76T intragovernmental. But even considering only the publicly held debt portion, the ratio of 24.92T/22.49T is 110.8% ! So our debt relative to our production has tripled. The old saying, “something that can not go on forever will stop” comes to mind. I don’t know when or how, but I strongly suspect that if no serious efforts are made to address the problem now, the pain we will all endure eventually will be far worse.
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Sorry, the debt in 1972 was $427 Billion.
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Let’s start with public radio (NPR) and public television–National Public Broadcasting. If you can’t can that then nothing will be reduced. I am a listener and a contributor of a solid amount of $ because we watch and listen. Right now I write this with classical music from a local PBS station in the background. But go back 45-50 years ago when this began because there was a dearth of programming like opera–Sesame Street–classical music–bluegrass.
So, we fund this National Public Broadcasting and as the decades roll along the ways of gathering information and entertainment explode. Now, everyone is plugged in and people everywhere can listen to any genre and gather information from all over the world. Many times I listen to classical music from Switzerland just because I can.
Amazon, for maybe $10.00, monthly provides all types of programming in addition to the “free” listening for Prime members. Folks now have hundreds of choices from satellite, cable, etc. Much of it free some you pay for.
Now, the point is that once you start a federal program it is almost impossible to get rid of it even when the objective is met. Like kudzu you can’t kill it. The folks working there will have every excuse they can think of to keep it going. “It really is a small amount of $ so what’s the big deal?” If it is so small maybe folks like me will give more and companies will donate more. Compete with other news/information/music companies–same tax breaks–same rules and regs.
Listen, as you do, and you know the news and information leans left so media and certain politicians will resist. Big government folks want little or nothing cut as that would mean other programs could be on the chopping block. Cut one and who knows where we go from there.
My point is simple: reduce or eliminate a program that when begun filled a void now met by the private sector. If you can’t reduce or eliminate something relatively small and redundant then what can be cut?
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The old expression “nothing is as permanent as a temporary federal program” applies to many programs. Cutting is almost impossible because a bureaucrat has a job running it and doesn’t want to find work elsewhere and the public who receives the money in hand or job provided by the program fights to keep it going. There is no end in sight.
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It’s the credit card mentality. People in Washington are not immune to it. They think if it just adds some interest to the bill, they can spend now. Others believe we can spend indefinitely because the “government” can print as much money as it wants. Unfortunately, there is a tipping point that raising taxes can’t solve because there is too much obligated spending. When that tipping point arrives, all citizens will know it.
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Because the reps in DC pander for votes. Don’t worry about paying for it!
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Ugh! How could our reps let it go so far!!
Sent from my iPhone
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