Don't Worry, Be Spendy
February 6, 2006
9:27 a.m., MT

That's apparently Bushnev's motto, as evidenced by the $2.77 trillion budget request he sent Congress. A snippet of the Bloomberg piece [all emphasis mine]:

President George W. Bush sent Congress a $2.77 trillion budget request for next year that would shrink Medicare and other entitlement spending by $65 billion over five years as defense and homeland security funds surge. This year's deficit forecast is a record $423 billion.

The Defense Department budget for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1 would increase 6.9 percent over Bush's last budget, to $439.3 billion. That figure, the seventh consecutive increase in Pentagon spending, doesn't include an extra $120 billion the president wants for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan this year and next. ....

Bush may face a challenge pushing the budget through Congress because it would force lawmakers, who are up for election in November, to make cuts in government programs even as overall spending grows.

Juxtaposed with an article I read last night, these numbers become even more ominous. Interest-ing way to look at federal debt says a Seattle Post-Intelligencer columnist, which deserves to be read in full. Here are some bits that particularly got my attention:

$352,350,252,507.90 is what the government spent on interest payments last year. ....

That $352 billion dwarfs what the country spent on roads, space missions, public health, student loans or even the war in Iraq. There are only two other programs that cost more, Social Security and Medicare.

To help fund that $352 billion I.O.U., beginning Thursday, the government will again sell 30-year bonds. ....

"When the federal government runs a deficit, the Treasury borrows money from the public by selling securities in the capital markets," the CBO says. "That debt is purchased by various buyers, including foreign investors, mutual funds, state and local governments, commercial banks, insurance companies and individuals. Of those groups, foreign investors (governments, businesses and individuals) currently own 45 percent of all federal debt issued to the public -- or nearly $2.1 trillion of the roughly $4.6 trillion that is now outstanding."

The CBO says Japan, China and the United Kingdom have the biggest holdings of U.S. debt instruments. And, it's worth noting, that the United Kingdom is more of a broker than a purchaser. ....

"When the national debt is externally held, the payment of interest abroad is a transfer of income from Americans to foreigners," the CRS said.

This is huge. We Americans are stingy when it comes to foreign aid. We don't invest a lot (in relative terms) to help poor nations climb out of poverty. The total spending on foreign aid is less than $20 billion (depending on how you count).

Yet without debate, without fanfare, we willingly send $235 billion as a transfer payment -- to Japan, China and other cash-rich nations, businesses and individuals. ....

Let's look at the little payments, the interest. That scares me even more because we're nearing a day when we won't even be able to afford debt service -- let alone the rest of government. And what's worse is that the sheer enormity of our federal debt service robs us of the ability to make decisions about everything else. We have to keep paying interest. Period. ....

Every tax season I'd like to know how much of my tax burden was being spent on programs versus how much of my check was a transfer of wealth in the form of debt service.

Might as well wish to your fairy godmother. Maybe she could also stop the economic train wreck that's imminent -- and let's not forget that the above picture hasn't included the huge personal debt load many American households carry -- but that seems impossible given the USSA's political "leadership".

Sunni

Comments: 1 person has added a thought or two ...

On Monday, February 6th, at approximately 2:07 p.m. Mountain time, chauncy said:

One obvious way to lower govt. spending at federal and local levels:

STOP the REAL ID Act before it ever gets implented (scheduled for May 2008).

This and similar outrageously costly so-called Homeland Security schemes are breaking the bank and are NOT necessary or even cost-effective. Please do all you can to fight REAL ID and similar invasive schemes that will strip all Americans of our privacy.

Found this online webpage that has a lot more info on Real ID and how to fight it.

http://xsorbit29.com/users5/abolishrealid

Sounds like it will take a lot more than a few angry onliners to defeat this Real ID stuff.

Check it out today.
Good luck.

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