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Most people don’t lie awake at night worried about the national debt. Unfortunately, that includes President Joe Biden and the spendaholic Democrats in Congress.
They should be worried. Frankly, so should you, no matter what your politics. Economics is a science, and numerous studies by world-class economists confirm that when a nation’s debt gets too high, it pushes the economy into decline. Inflation soars, jobs become scarcer and mortgage rates to buy a home are unaffordable. Ouch.
The U.S. is heading off that cliff. The national debt is at the highest level since WWII, and is forecast to break that record soon. In 2022, it hit 98% of GDP — everything we all produce going to work every day — and is growing rapidly. The U.S. is in the company of nations such as Mozambique, Bhutan, Angola, Portugal and Greece. We don’t want our kids to live in a crumbling economy.
It wasn’t always like this. Over the last 50 years, debt to GDP has averaged 46%.
Republicans, who recently won control of the House of Representatives, are withholding the House’s approval to raise the debt ceiling — the amount the nation is legally permitted to borrow — until Democrats negotiate a plan to reduce spending and pull the nation back from its dire straits.
Biden, visiting Al Sharpton’s National Action Network on Jan. 16, called the House Republicans “fiscally demented.” It takes nerve for Biden to call anybody “demented.”
Never mind. The Republicans are making a reasonable demand. If Washington’s leaders won’t rein in government spending, who will?
New York Times columnist Paul Krugman calls the House Republicans’ quid pro quo economic terrorism. Nonsense. The real domestic terrorism is Congress’ continued spending on borrowed money.
It can only go on so long. Ordinary people who live on credit cards and pay only the monthly minimum can tell you that. Eventually, credit card payments don’t pay for any new goods or services, just interest.
That’s what our nation faces if it doesn’t change course now. Interest expenses will mount, rates will go up and an increasing proportion of tax revenues will be consumed paying interest. The Congressional Budget Office predicts that over the next 10 years, interest expense will triple. In a decade, interest outlays will exceed defense spending. Yikes.
Eventually, if fiscal sanity is not restored, government will have to cut services or impose massive tax hikes, or both.
Worse, as government borrows more, less money is available to make loans to businesses and homebuyers. Jobs dry up and wages decline. The economy spirals downward. It isn’t a pretty picture. Ask economists who have examined high-debt countries.
Harvard’s Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff analyzed 44 countries in their landmark analysis for the American Economic Review. They found that when national debt exceeds 90% of GDP — a benchmark that’s already in the U.S.’ rearview mirror — the economy falters.
Thirty-six other studies confirm that excessive government borrowing sabotages economic growth. Washington pols need to stop padding their own political fortunes and look at these scientific facts.
Sadly, there is no hope Democrats will agree to spending reforms without pressure from House Republicans withholding the debt ceiling hike.
After all, in December, as a last hurrah before ceding control of the House, Democrats enacted an omnibus spending bill that included 7,200 earmarks — favorite projects of often unnamed legislators bringing pork home to their own district. Earmarks, a symbol of corruption, had been banned for a decade, but in 2021, the Democrat controlled Congress reinstated them in a flourish of political cynicism. Like holding up a middle finger to the unsuspecting public.
The rhetorical attacks on Republicans for delaying a hike in the debt ceiling are mounting. Bloomberg’s editors call the Republican strategy “malpractice.” Democrat Sen. Chris Van Hollen (Md.) accuses the Republicans of an “extremist agenda.”
There is nothing “extremist” about putting the nation on a responsible fiscal plan. Republicans need to stay unified — a formidable challenge — and hold their ground.
The party of unlimited spending and vote buying must be stopped, before the U.S. economy and our standard of living are destroyed.
Betsy McCaughey is a former lieutenant governor of New York and chairman of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths. Follow her on Twitter @Betsy_McCaughey. To find out more about Betsy McCaughey and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website.
COPYRIGHT 2023 CREATORS.COM
AMEN to cutting spending, downsizing government. Get rid of non-effective bills, laws, and yes three-letter agencies (EPA for instance). That will be a start to downsizing the debt and big government.
The author writes “The party of unlimited spending and vote buying must be stopped, before the U.S. economy and our standard of living are destroyed.” Well for a lot of average Americans, their standard of living is already being negatively impacted after just 2 short years of Biden and the Democrats. Will it get worse? Likely yes, as Biden or some Democrat will be in the White House for at least another 2 years. As interest rates rise and the short-term debt the federal government constantly relies on for borrowing roles over, the interest we pay on the national debt will balloon from around $400 billion dollars a year to $1 trillion dollars annually by 2024 or 2025. That will mean 25 percent of the total tax receipts the United States government collects annually from U.S. citizens will go towards simply paying the interest on our outstanding debt.
Since the 2023 $1.7 trillion omnibus bill established a new baseline spending number based on 2022 spending ($6.2 trillion dollars) instead of the more normal 2019 spending levels ($4.3 trillion dollars), that means we will have to have both higher taxes / regulatory fees and increased foreign borrowering to maintain this elevated level of spending. That certainly will negatively impact the standard of living of most Americans going forward. We are well on our way to becoming a European style social welfare economy, which does NOT bode well for most Americans going forward.
While Americans are poor and starving and trying to pay utilities. Inflation is over 500% in 2 years and climbing. (Milk/gal. and Eggs/doz. Over $6 each and CLIMBING)
Americans Bank accounts DRAINED.
The politicians get rich and give themselves more money and more power to CONTROL you. (See democrats)
Just check their tax records and their actions (COVER UPS/SCANDALS and PASSING ILLEGAL UNCONSTITUTIONAL BILLS).
How many raises did SWAMP QUEEN pelosi give herself and federal employees while Americans got another slap in the face in past 2 years?
Quite a few raises.
Don’t forget the $1.7 TRILLION Bill passed that had nothing to do with Infrastructure or Securing Borders or Power Grid or Cybersecurity or Energy Independence or National Security or anything helping the United States. How many $Billions went to Ukraine instead of Americans? $46 BILLION. Which should have gone to Border Security.
But it did create more TAXES and government agencies and useless pet projects of pork spending that your great-grandchildren will be paying for and getting nothing out of it but the politicians got richer and more power and CONTROL over you and them.
Don’t forget the money we waste on foreign aid, WHO, and U.N..
And one of my favorite is how they waste money is all the projects that are triple funded or more for the same damn thing.
COMPLETE WASTE of OUR TAX DOLLARS OUT OF OUR POCKETS.
Not theirs.
I’ve been hearing about that unbridled spending for at least 50 years and yet here we are. Americans, myself included have witnessed the dwindling of my investments, interest and my money’s worthlessness. It’s as if the principles of financial surety does not apply to politicians or bureaucrats who spend money with yours and my checkbooks . Anyone not in politics are held accountable and subject to criminal charges. Meanwhile these larcenous people continue to spend until there’s no hope to ever pay back this debt. The ability of government to tax their way out of this atrocity will no longer be a solution, printing useless money will devalue what’s left and then it will be the raiding of individual personal wealth or whatever is left of it.
Blame RNC DNC Estd both sides & RINOs
Grateful that I won’t be around for more than a decade or two at the most. I grieve deeply for my grandchildren. All we can do is give them as many survival skills as possible. Proud to say that the other night the entire meal for a family of ten came from the garden and hunting, it can be done.
Democrats Don’t care about you. they only care about their corrupt schemes to fill their pockets.
Don’t be fooled. Republicans like to spend YOUR money just as much as Democrat do.
Wrong, wrong, wrong! It the overspending of the government that is destroying the country!
I’m sorry, but I know I’m not the only person in this country that believe it’s all by design. The dims are purposely trying to bankrupt this country and bring the USA to it’s knees. In the process they are all making themselves filthy rich. I’m sure they have all been promised by mother China that they will be taken care of, “just do this for us dimwits and every will be fine.”
On the other hand, maybe, and I know this would never happen, but maybe we should quit giving out handouts to every Tom, Dick and Harry…I’m not talking about just in our own country, I’m talking about Foreign Aid.
We give billion to other countries, countries that don’t necessarily have our best interest at heart. Maybe we should have a complete overhaul of the foreign aid we give out. Review each and every nation and determine exactly what’s in it for the USA. If there is no benefit in it for us, then no aid.
Here’s another solution that could help us out and will never happen. Call in all of the debt owed the USA from WWII, only one country ever paid us back, and that was Finland.
Here’s the top ten countries that owe the USA money as of fiscal year 2016, not including money owed us from WWII. #10 Luxembourg, with a debt of 87 billion. #9 Mexico, 91 billion. #8 Germany, 95 billion. #7 Japan, 131 billion. #6 France, 146 billion. #5 Holland, 154 billion. #4 Australia, 157 billion. #3 Cayman Islands, 302 billion. #2 United Kingdom, 342 billion. #1 Canada 380 billion. And how about the billions were giving Ukraine, but that’s a different story altogether.
All I’m saying is start collection money that’s owed us, quit giving out handouts, and maybe that would be a start in getting things under control. Sad thing is, none of this or anything for that fact, will ever happen so long as a dim is in power and we have Rino’s going along with them.
Congress should start by stopping expenditures to provide lodging, clothing, food, health care, legal assistance and transportation for immigrants crossing the border illegally!
Secondly, what is America’s interest in the war in Ukraine? They are not a NATO country and Congress has not declared war. The real threat from this war is that it will provoke the Russian bear to strike America with nuclear weapons for interfering where we do not belong! How many unaudited billions have been spent or misspent on this boondoggle already? I understand our own armed services are now getting short on some material sent to Ukraine?
These two cutbacks would save at least a trillion and a half. Add the unnecessary earmarks and eliminating 87K new IRS agents and the nation might begin to see daylight in the future!
good
Germany and Sweden operate on balanced federal budgets. Our philosophy is to take care of
everyone in this country and then everyone in the world while committing to half of the civillized
world that we will defend them so they do not have to spend money on defense. We are told
every day that we are guilty because we don’t do more and then we go into our typical guilt trip.
I say lets give the finger to everybody who asks us for anything. Get it yourself or do without.
My next bumper sticker after the current one which says “Awake but not woke” will be a big
finger and the phrase “Get your hand out of my wallet “.
AOC for president
Let’s vote to borrow huge amounts of money from “The People” then take political payoffs from lobbyists and invest it in Angel Accounts where large interest is paid to investors.Big bread to get in with minimums and all interest payed to Caymine island accounts. Crooks do it all the time . Are politicians there also??? Enter D C poor leave wealthy ,I am told!!!No profit in balanced budgets. Need term limits , money received.Elect people that want to serve not be served.
Biden shutting down coal industry just agreed to billions in far East to start up coal industry there.Destroy America is their goal.Two years more of this mess.Just a note!!! If president and vote can’t serve their terms then Speaker of House assumes Presidency. Good thought for today!!! I M O