Tag Archives: National Debt

US Budget Deficit Hits A Record $234 Billion As Interest On Debt Soars, by Tyler Durden

Posted on March 24, 2019 | Leave a comment

February set a new all time record for a monthly budget deficit, $234 billion. The record will probably not stand for long. From Tyler Durden at zerohedge.com:

Another month, another frightening jump in the US budget deficit. And this time it was a record.

According to the latest Treasury data, the US budget surplus in February – traditionally the worst month of the year due to tax refunds – was a whopping $234 billion, missing the $227 billion deficit expected, and well worse than the $214 billion deficit recorded last February. And even though there may have been one-time tax refund and government shutdown factors at play, the February deficit was also the biggest budget deficit on record.

For March, receipts rose 7.5% y/y to $167.3BN while outlays rose 8.2% to $401.2BN in Feb. As a result, the budget deficit for the first five months of the fiscal year, widened to $544 billion, a whopping 39% higher than the $391 billion reported for the same period last year, largely the result of the revenue hit from Trump’s tax cuts and the increase in government spending. The deficit was the result of a modest drop in fiscal YTD receipts to $1.278 trillion, while spending jumped 9% to $1.823 trillion.

Continue reading→

Leave a comment

Posted in Debt, Economy, Government

Tagged , ,

The Blind Leading the Deaf and Dumb, by James Howard Kunstler

Posted on March 15, 2019 | Leave a comment

Are the tables about to be turned on both the Russia collusion story and financial markets? From James Howard Kunstler at kunstler.com:

You had to wonder why it took Nancy Pelosi so long to figure out that maybe impeachment was not the big rock-candy mountain that, for “the resistance,” marked the gateway to a Trump-free nirvana. It became obvious this week, through the release of the Bruce Ohr and Lisa Page transcripts, that RussiaGate was birthed entirely by persons in the employ of Hillary Clintion, with then CIA Director John Brennan as midwife, and the DOJ / FBI avidly assisting — all of them fully aware that the predicate was false. What’s more, the evidence timeline makes it clear that Democratic Party leadership, including Nancy Pelosi, knew it was false. Hence, the pained smile she’s been wearing these many months.

In the event of an impeachment proceeding in the House, all that would be revealed, especially if it got as far as a trial in the US Senate, where the defense is allowed to mount a case under rules of evidence. Imagine the howls of embarrassment on late-night TV when even ex-comedian Stephen Colbert would have to admit that he was gulled into acting as a shill for a seditious con.

I suppose Ms. Pelosi also made the calculation that any impeachment ginned up by the likes of Jerrold Nadler and Maxine Waters would be superseded by a slew of actual indictments among the above-mentioned former law enforcement officialdom, including perhaps former Attorney General Loretta Lynch and persons in the Obama White House. You might even include the enigmatic Robert Mueller, who appears to be liable for the destruction of evidence in his own inquiry, as well as malicious prosecution.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Posted in Crime, Debt, Economy, Financial markets, Government, Investigations

Tagged , ,

Pity the Nation: War Spending Is Bankrupting America, by John W. Whitehead

Posted on March 14, 2019 | Leave a comment

The warfare state is certainly helping to bankrupt America, but John Whitehead goes too easy on the welfare state. From Whitehead at rutherford.org:

“Pity the nation whose people are sheep
And whose shepherds mislead them
Pity the nation whose leaders are liars
Whose sages are silenced
And whose bigots haunt the airwaves
Pity the nation that raises not its voice
Except to praise conquerors
And acclaim the bully as hero
And aims to rule the world
By force and by torture…
Pity the nation oh pity the people
who allow their rights to erode
and their freedoms to be washed away…”
~ Lawrence Ferlinghetti, poet

War spending is bankrupting America.

Our nation is being preyed upon by a military industrial complex that is propped up by war profiteers, corrupt politicians and foreign governments.

America has so much to offer – creativity, ingenuity, vast natural resources, a rich heritage, a beautifully diverse populace, a freedom foundation unrivaled anywhere in the world, and opportunities galore – and yet our birthright is being sold out from under us so that power-hungry politicians, greedy military contractors, and bloodthirsty war hawks can make a hefty profit at our expense.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that your hard-earned tax dollars are being used for national security and urgent military needs.

It’s all a ruse.

You know what happens to tax dollars that are left over at the end of the government’s fiscal year? Government agencies – including the Department of Defense – go on a “use it or lose it” spending spree so they can justify asking for money in the next fiscal year.

We’re not talking chump change, either.

We’re talking $97 billion worth of wasteful spending.

According to an investigative report by Open the Government, among the items purchased during the last month of the fiscal year when government agencies go all out to get rid of these “use it or lose it” funds: Wexford Leather club chair ($9,241), china tableware ($53,004), alcohol ($308,994), golf carts ($673,471), musical equipment including pianos, tubas, and trombones ($1.7 million), lobster tail and crab ($4.6 million), iPhones and iPads ($7.7 million), and workout and recreation equipment ($9.8 million).

So much for draining the swamp.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Posted in Collapse, Debt, Economy, Military, Politics

Tagged , ,

As budget deficit balloons, few in Washington seem to care, by Andrew Taylor

Posted on March 12, 2019 | Leave a comment

Everybody has a plan to eliminate the budget deficit in ten to fifteen years, but the debt and interest payments are ballooning now, and the economy is supposedly doing well. From Andrew  Taylor at apnews.com:

The federal budget deficit is ballooning on President Donald Trump’s watch and few in Washington seem to care.

And even if they did, the political dynamics that enabled bipartisan deficit-cutting deals decades ago has disappeared, replaced by bitter partisanship and chronic dysfunction.

That’s the reality that will greet Trump’s latest budget , which will promptly be shelved after landing with a thud on Monday. Like previous spending blueprints, Trump’s plan for the 2020 budget year will propose cuts to many domestic programs favored by lawmakers in both parties but leave alone politically popular retirement programs such as Medicare and Social Security.

Washington probably will devote months to wrestling over erasing the last remnants of a failed 2011 budget deal that would otherwise cut core Pentagon operations by $71 billion and domestic agencies and foreign aid by $55 billion. Top lawmakers are pushing for a reprise of three prior deals to use spending cuts or new revenues and prop up additional spending rather than defray deficits that are again approaching $1 trillion.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Posted in Debt, Economy, Government, Politics

Tagged ,

US Budget Deficit Soars 77% As Federal Interest Expense Hits Record High, by Tyler Durden

Posted on March 6, 2019 | Leave a comment

The good news just keeps coming on the national debt. From Tyler Durden at zerohedge.com:

Another month, another frightening jump in the US budget deficit.

According to the latest Treasury data, the US budget surplus in January – traditionally one of the few surplus months of the year due to tax receipts vs refunds timing – was only $9 billion, badly missing the $25 billion surplus expected, and far below the $49 billion surplus recorded last January; it was the smallest January gain since 2015.

As a result, the budget deficit for the first four months of the fiscal year, widened to $310 billion, a whopping 77% higher than the $175.7 billion reported for the same period last year, largely the result of the revenue hit from Trump’s tax cuts and the increase in government spending. The deficit was the result of a 2% drop in fiscal YTD receipts to $1.1 trillion, while spending jumped 9% to $1.4 trillion.

Continue reading→

 

 

Leave a comment

Posted in Debt, Economy, Government, Taxes

Tagged ,

GDP Rose by $1.0 Trillion in 2018, US Gov. Debt by $1.3 Trillion, by Wolf Richter

Posted on February 28, 2019 | Leave a comment

If an economy “grows” by $1 trillion but takes on $1.3 trillion in new debt, has it grown? From Wolf Richter at wolfstreet.com:

Where would GDP growth be without federal borrow-and-spend?

So the dreams of 3%-plus economic growth in 2018 were fulfilled, after tax cuts and ballooning federal deficit spending, which acted as a huge stimulus: In the fourth quarter, the economy as measured by inflation-adjusted GDP grew by 0.55% from the third quarter, not annualized (we’ll get to the “annualized rate” in a moment).

This brought GDP growth for the entire year 2018 to 3.1%, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis this morning. This places the year ahead of the top years since the Financial Crisis:

The BEA also reports – this is what you see in all the headlines though it’s the most convoluted and somewhat misleading way of presenting GDP growth – the current quarter’s growth rate but extrapolated out over an entire year; so what this Q4 growth rate of 0.55%, mentioned above, would mean for the whole year if the economy had grown for an entire year at the same rate. For Q4 this seasonally adjusted, inflation-adjusted “annualized rate” of growth was 2.6%.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Posted in Debt, Economy, Government

Tagged ,

Debt and Deficits: They’re Unsustainable, by Bob Luddy

Posted on January 22, 2019 | Leave a comment

There’s a certainty to increasing debt and compounding interest: eventually they must end. Either the debt is repaid or repudiated. From Bob Luddy at spectator.org:

Economic growth won’t save us, not without serious cuts in government spending.

The most important issue facing America today is the national debt and increasing federal deficits. Our national debt now exceeds yearly gross domestic product (GDP).

The U.S is the wealthiest country in the world, but our government has the largest spending deficits and national debt in recorded history.

The budget deficit in FY 2018 was $800 billion, but the debt increased by $1,300 trillion, and is now $21,500 trillion dollars. Government accounting (oxymoron) allows for spending and loans outside of the budget. The practice of underreporting deficits is fraud and is not legal in the private market.

Note the US Debt Clock (here).

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Posted in Collapse, Currencies, Debt, Economy, Government, Taxes

Tagged , , ,

This problem is 10,000 times bigger than the border wall, by Simon Black

Posted on January 18, 2019 | Leave a comment

The cost of the proposed border wall is a rounding error in terms of total government spending or the US national debt. From Simon Black at sovereignman.com:

We are in the midst of the longest government shutdown in history.

Don’t get me wrong, I like having the government shut down. As I’ve said before, I believe it is my moral duty to pay as little taxes as possible.

The government does some really stupid things with your tax dollars. I’d rather not pay for a $2 billion Obamacare website that doesn’t work, or to defend Congressmen against sexual assault allegations.

So, by starving the beast, I at least ensure they’re not squandering my money.

But I think it’s ridiculous that this government posturing is financially crippling the 800,000 government workers (and millions of contractors) who are now out of work – or being forced to work without pay.

To be fair, last night the president signed a law guaranteeing they would be paid for past work – a month into this fiasco. It’s a step in the right direction, as there’s a word for forcing people to work without pay – slavery.

That’s why I offered to pay the rent of any government workers hurt by the shutdown. I am using my tax savings to bail out some of these government workers the feds left high and dry.

But at its core, this whole shutdown comes down to a disagreement over $5 billion. That is how much money Trump wants to build the border wall between the US and Mexico. And Congress refuses to fund it.

Granted, that’s a lot of money to you and me. And it should be a lot of money to the government, too.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Posted in Debt, Government, Immigration, Pensions, Politics

Tagged ,

The American Dream is Being Held Hostage, by Virginia Fidler

Posted on January 2, 2019 | Leave a comment

The American Dream isn’t being held hostage, it’s been mortgaged. From Virginia Fidler at goldtelegraph.com:

For the first time in its history, the U.S. is seeing a budget deficit in excess of $1 trillion. And this deficit is expected to continue to grow. At a time when the U.S. economy is booming, the national debt is experiencing new heights, with no end in sight. A spiraling budget deficit will likely send inflation soaring. Never before has the U.S. deficit skidded out of control while the economy is in the midst of an upward swing. It is not a good sign.

President Trump favors tax cuts, while a large baby boomer generation is expecting its Medicare and Social Security benefits. Baby boomers started turning 65 in 2011, and the number of boomers retiring will grow to 35 million during the next three decades. The younger, working generation will only grow by 28 million, but will carry the burden of paying for the Social Security and health care benefits of the older generation. With boomers expected to live longer than previous generation, there will be a growing population expecting payments for a longer period of time. Social security and Medicare and other healthcare programs will are responsible for 100 percent increase in government spending with the exception of interest payment on the national debt. The burden of paying for these expenditures will fall on a generation that is seeing its American dream faltering before its eyes.

Are we facing a potential economic crisis?

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Posted in Business, Collapse, Debt, Economy, Government, Politics

Tagged , ,

Merry Christmas from Uncle Sam — You Got More Debt! by Peter Schiff

Posted on December 27, 2018 | Leave a comment

Got $4,178.10 burning a hole in your pocket? Good, because the government increased your share of the national debt by that much from Christmas 2017 to Christmas 2018. From Peter Schiff at schiffgold.com:

Between Christmas 2017 and Christmas 2018, the US government added a staggering $1,370,760,684,441.54 to the national debt, according to Treasury Department figures.

If you split that up between all American, your share of Uncle Sam’s 2018 spending spree comes to about $4,178.10.

Merry Christmas!

You’re welcome.

CNSNews.com came up with that figure by dividing the Christmas-to-Christmas debt increase by the latest population estimate from the US Census Bureau (328,082,386). In order to pay off the increase in the national debt, each household would have to pony up $10,743. And when you consider that only 55% of American households pay income tax, that number climbs north of $19,500.

Of course, this doesn’t include all of the unfunded liabilities such as Social Security and Medicare. When you factor them in, the total national debt eclipses $200 trillion. That number is so big, it’s essentially meaningless.

So, what is Uncle Sam doing to address his debt problem?

Absolutely nothing.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Posted in Debt, Government

Tagged