Congress setting spending records while our economy reels

The GOP controls  the U.S. House.  Over in the Senate, we have a pretty stable crew of 10-15 “Republicans” (including Thom Tillis) who regularly vote to support the Democrat agenda.

Meanwhile, it’s becoming increasingly unclear how much more abuse our national economy can take:

The Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday that it projects this year’s federal budget deficit to be $400 billion higher, a 27% increase compared to its original estimate released in February.

The major drivers of the change include: higher costs from the supplemental spending package signed in April that provides military aid to Ukraine and Israel; higher than estimated costs of reducing student loan borrower balances; increased Medicaid spending; and higher spending on FDIC insurance after the agency has not yet recovered payments it made after the banking crises of 2023 and 2024. […]

Okay, let’s review.  Our budget deficit is the difference between how much we spend compared to how much we take in.  The existence of a deficit indicates we are not covering the cost of what our government spends.

All of that foreign aid to Israel and Ukraine that congressional Republicans passed over our passionate objections.  “Increased Medicaid spending” aka Medicaid expansion. 

We, in the real world, are expected to actually have money to pay for all of the stuff we buy.  Why don’t we demand the same for our government?

MORE:

[…] The report also projects that the nation’s publicly held debt is set to increase from 99% of gross domestic product at the end of 2024 to 122% of GDP — the highest level ever recorded — by the end of 2034. “Then it continues to rise,” the report states. […]

GDP is the total value of everything we make in the good ol’ US of A.  Right now, we pretty much OWE the value of everything that is made domestically.  According to this report, we will owe 122 percent of the value of everything made domestically by 2034.

Imagine if your debts were equal to your entire yearly income. Imagine if they were equal to 122 percent of what you make each year.  You’d be ruined.  You’d be in jail or on the streets.

Folks are trying hard to  pin all of this on Joe Biden.  He deserves some blame.  But he and his crew got  a lot of help from plenty of folks with an (R) next to their names.

MORE:

[…] Michael A. Peterson, CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, said the CBO projections show that the outlook for America’s critical national debt challenge is worsening.

“The harmful effects of higher interest rates fueling higher interest costs on a huge existing debt load are continuing, and leading to additional borrowing. It’s the definition of unsustainable,” Peterson said.

“The leaders we elect this fall will face a series of highly consequential fiscal deadlines next year, including the reinstatement of the debt limit, the expiration of the 2017 tax cuts and key decisions on healthcare subsidies, discretionary spending caps and more.”

The folks we keep electing and, in some cases, reelecting, are focused much more on pleasing lobbyists and keeping the campaign cash rolling in than they are about saving the country.  The folks who win in November will likely continue the tradition of kicking-the-can down the road — making it even more of a problem for our children and grandchildren. 

Will fiscal restraint — fiscal conservatism — EVER be more than a campaign-time buzzword?

I was around for the nation’s 200th birthday.  In two years, we will celebrate birthday #250.  Will we make it to #275? (*Perhaps, if the Saudis and the Chinese don’t call in our debts.*)