COULD WE BE THE PROBLEM?

I am as upset as anyone about the current state of our country. I am upset about the inflation.

I know some politicians are claiming it is under control. I don’t know what they mean by that. What I’m calling inflation is the FACT that a visit to the grocery store that did not cost me more than $300.00 in 2020 cost me over $500.00 my last visit. And, being on a fixed income, I was trying to cut back.

According to (https://www.in2013dollars.com) “The dollar had an average inflation rate of 4.24% per year between 2019 and today, producing a cumulative price increase of 18.06%” that sounds like inflation to me.

I am upset about rising violent crime rate.

Mayor Lightfoot (D- Chicago) claimed that the crime rate was under control while she fought a losing battle to maintain her position as the leader in Chicago. The good news for me, as a nearby resident effected by the lawlessness in Chicago, is that she finished third on the final (April 4th) election night receiving only 17.1% of the vote. The bad news is that the winner of the election mellowed his anti-police stance during the election, and it is too soon to tell where he will stand as mayor. He has argued that police budgets should be redirected to social service agencies. The candidate who was running on an anti-crime platform, lost.

In the February 28th election the Chicago voters were given 9 choices. The April 4th runoff election became necessary when no candidate received 50% or more of the vote. My disappointment comes from the fact that, if anything, Republicans (Or any opposition party) are only a distant memory in Chicago/Cook County politics. The last time any candidate other than a Democrat won a Chicago mayoral election was 1927 (Wikipedia). There is no opposition! How can we claim to have fair elections in a one-party system?

According to time.com “U.S. Crime Is Still Dramatically Higher Than Before the Pandemic.” The article (Published 07/28/2022 and updated 07/29/2022) cites that “Homicides hit historic highs in some cities in 2020 and 2021. The homicide numbers for the first half of 2022, which are based on data from 23 cities, are still 39% higher than they were in the same time period of 2019.”

I am upset about the skyrocketing national debt.

I believe the National Debt is a danger to our defense and, in itself, is indefensible.

We are giving money to foreign entities as though we have money to give! We don’t!

We are facing a $30 + Trillion deficit. Are our representatives unaware of the debt? Are they unaware of interest payments that debt requires? Are they unaware of the effect that debt has on the value of our dollar?

I’m not unaware! Are you?

The Peter G. Peterson foundation reports that at the time I am writing this (9:25pm Central time 04/15/2023) the national debt is $31,459,148,259,801 because of the high amount involved and the interest rates involved the debt is increasing by the minute. In the time it took me to write this it increased by 5 million dollars. Do you think we are in any position to be giving any money away for any purpose at any time? I do not.

If the national debt were to be divided evenly among every person in the country it would come to $94,212 per individual. The report I found did not specify if they were counting citizens or residents.

In 2023, according to (https://www.pgpf,org> Peter G Peterson Foundation) The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected that annual net interest costs would total $640 Billion in 2023 and double over the upcoming decade.

The article I’ve cited above also documents that the historically high debt makes borrowing money difficult, interest rates on borrowing enormously high, and these conditions can increase inflation. All of this said, our country is giving money away while our government officials are telling us they are doing everything they can to fight inflation. I smell a rat!

Rising debt (Per the Peter G. Peterson Foundation) also means fewer economic opportunities in the future in addition to all of the problems listed above.

My theory on why our country is on such a downhill slide it that we have a lot of politicians who have not held any other job. What is there to budgeting if it’s not your money and problems can be solved by raising the debt limit or raising taxes or both. There’s no need to tighten the fiscal belt or evaluate spending habits. These politicians have a spicket that constantly provides revenue, it’s commonly referred to as the U.S. taxpayer. When that source is not able to provide the ready cash they need to fund their programs and corruption they raise the debt limit, what’s 20 or 30 trillion dollars- when you aren’t held responsible for it?

I googled “raising the debt limit” and the first response I received was from U.S. Department Of The Treasury (home.treasury.,com). The first paragraph reads as follows:

“The debt limit is the total amount of money that the United States government is authorized to borrow to meet its existing legal obligations, including Social security and Medicare benefits, military salaries, interest on the national debt, tax refunds, and other payments.

The article goes on to assure “The debt limit does not authorize new spending commitments. It simply allows the government to finance existing legal obligations that Congress and presidents of both parties have made in the past.”

The third paragraph reads, “Failing to increase the debt limit would have catastrophic economic consequences. It would cause the government to default on its legal obligations- an unprecedented event in American history. That would precipitate another financial crisis and threaten the jobs and savings of everyday Americans – putting the United States right back in a deep economic hole, just as the country is recovering from the recent recession.”

“Congress has always acted when called upon to raise the debt limit. Since 1960, Congress has acted 78 separate times to permanently raise, temporarily extend, or revise the definition of the debt limit – 49 times under Republican presidents and 29 times under Democratic presidents’ Congressional leaders in both parties have recognized that this is necessary.”

The article then goes on to give examples of how the debt limit has been raised in the past.

I would be sold on this if I didn’t have to deal with my own budget. Paying my own bills since I was 15, I know that “raising the debt limit” can not and should not be done whenever the bills are due.

I do believe that it would be terrible if the armed forces, Medicare or social security checks were not given out for any length of time. I am retired and collect social security. I would hate to have to forego any payment.

Let’s look at this issue a little closer though.

If you had a job at a bank would you be inclined to approve a loan requested by an entity who has failed to meet its obligations 78 times in the last 63 years. Doing the simple math it is easy to see that the government has spent more money than it has budgeted for more than once a year since 1960. (Note: Prior to 1960 the government was not authorized to go over budget).

In the treasury department article I quoted above they write that there would be “Catastrophic economic consequences” if the budget override is not approved. Later we read that, “Congress has always acted when called upon to raise the debt limit.” as though they are doing a great service in rubber stamping incompetence.

I can guarantee you that no CEO (Chief Executive Officer) or CFO (Chief Financial Officer) would go over the set budget they were given if there was any way to avoid it. If they went over more than once they would have a lot of questions to answer. I would venture to guess that if they were over budget for 3 years in a row they would not be serving a fourth year.

The catastrophic event I see is overriding the debt ceiling, for the 79th time in 63 years, which was accomplished this year with little interference.

We are all citizens with a right to vote, to protest, to elect individuals to represent us in various positions, to refuse to re-elect those individuals if they do not represent our interests these rights are not permanent. It is our job to elect people who will serve us competently. WE ARE FAILING! We have a collection of incompetent buffoons and, apparently, we’ve been re-electing them since 1960.

In 1961 future President Reagan said that, “Freedom is never more than one generation from extinction. We didn’t pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. The only way they can inherit the freedom we have known is if we fight for it, protect it, defend it, and then hand it to them with the well fought lessons of how they in their lifetime must do the same. And if you and I don’t do this, then you and I may well spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it once was like in America when men were free.”

Do you scoff at these words? Was a past president and opposition party leader recently arrested for alleged crimes very similar to crimes leaders of the party in power were only fined for? In the recent “Pandemic” were private businesses closed by order of the government with no protest or opposition? In that same “Pandemic” were churches ordered to close with limited opposition? While those churches were forced to close were restaurants, airlines and bars allowed to operate? Did the government refuse to arrest, or hold rioters protesting the George Floyd death, rioters who were responsible for injuries, deaths and millions of dollars in damage to state and privately owned property? A short time later were protesters associated with the other party charged in connection with an incident at the Capital, (With a much smaller damage estimate and the only death, a protester, shot by a Capitol Police Officer) and some held for years with no bond set? Is it true that some of those protesters are still being held, illegally, without benefit of bond or trial? Are government and private sector employees being fired for refusing to take a controversial, unproven, vaccine?

As a baby boomer I feel responsible, 1960 was around the time we became, or should have become, a strong voting block. According to the graph above our economy went to pot around 1970- most of us were legal to vote by then- maybe we should have paid more attention? I hope it’s not too late!

No matter what your party affiliation the direction our country is taking should be alarming to you. If it’s not, tell me why.

Thank you for reading.

Phil