$77
BILLION
IN ONE DAY
By: Ed Henry
No sooner did Congress raise the debt ceiling to almost $9 trillion than the
borrowholics added another $77.3 billion to our already horrendous debt.
The following table was snatched directly from the U.S. Treasury’s Bureau of
Public Debt web page:
This means that the national debt has increased $415.5 billion since the start of the
government’s fiscal year on October 1, 2005 , less than six months ago.
This also means that George W. Bush has added a record increase of $2.6 trillion to the
national debt and raised the debt limit four times since the day he took office a little
over five years ago. That’s an average debt increase of more than five hundred
billion per year.
Two point six may seem like a relatively small number until you realize that laid end
to end a trillion dollars is more than enough to reach the sun (roughly 93 million miles
away) and two trillion is more than enough to go to the sun and back. And we would still
have enough change left over to cover all of the admitted expenses of the illegal invasion
and occupation of Iraq , all of the money spent on homeland security, and more than enough
to rebuild the levees and properties in New Orleans . |
What’s more, the simple minded will tell you that this debt
translates into about $30,000 for every man, woman, and child in the country. But
that’s ridiculous and untrue. The real pay-back responsibility falls on the shoulders
of taxpayers and there is always less than half of the population in that category. In
other words, the figure for taxpayers is more like $60,000 each. Do you think people with
a negative savings rate are prepared to come up with that kind of money?
Others will tell you that the rich will take care of it and there should be some truth
in that idea. After all, until 1913 and individual income taxes, the rich supported the
government entirely and in a way they still do it with money paid lobbyists. But when it
comes down to it, I’ll bet they leave the country as fast as they outsourced industry
and jobs. They’ll flee to their homes in the Mediterranean , Switzerland , or Dubai where
they’ve already stashed gold and much of their wealth.
Look further at the table above. Notice that “Debt Held by the Public” went
up $50.9 billion in one day. This is money garnered from the sale of treasuries in more
flavors than Baskin Robbins. Securities legitimately contracted on the open market.
Politicians will tell you that it comes from people anxious to invest in America , but
they are really loans that have become a form of welfare we demand, intimidate, and
strong-arm other countries into providing us. These securities are also cashable on demand
or at any time these other nations tire of our policies. The very real interest on this
part of the debt is hanging around a billion a day.
The second part of the debt, what goes by the Greenspeak moniker of
“Intragovernmental Holdings” (IH) is also composed entirely of treasuries, but
these are “special” nonmarketable/nonnegotiable chits mostly that the government
issued entitlements when those programs produced a surplus; i.e., more money than
something like Social Security or Medicare needed to meet their monthly commitments. Last
year, the Social Security surplus alone was $86.5 billion. Despite what Starbucks and
others try to make sound like welfare, these were payments taxpayers made for goods and
services due.
When you drive into McDonalds, place an order, pay at one window and then drive to
another, do you feel that the person handing you your hamburgers is providing welfare?
The $26.4 billion added to IH in one day came from surplus entitlement money you
provided and the government pretended to “borrow” or “invest.” No
interest was due on any entitlements this month so it’s all gravy to the pirates. And
you or your children will have to pay it back in the most obvious double taxation scam the
world has ever seen.
On top of spending your supplemental retirement money, President Bush just told a news
conference that too much of the budget is going towards “mandatory” spending so
you might not even get what you paid for if he has his way.
How would you like it if the person at McDonald’s final drive-up window told you
that there wasn’t anything for you or that you have to get by with just part of what
you paid for?
Have a nice day. Characters welcome.
"Published originally at
EtherZone.com : republication allowed with this notice and hyperlink intact."
Ed Henry is the founder of TUFF, the
Taxpayers Union, and a regular columnist for Ether Zone.
Ed Henry can be reached at ctzcrank@mindspring.com
Ed's FREE pamphlet-"To The Moon, Alice" the national
debt, your Social Security, and the Pay-It-Again Sam scam.
We also invite you to visit his website at www.Uncle-Scam.com
Published in the March 23, 2006 issue of Ether Zone.
Copyright © 1997 - 2006 Ether Zone.
|
