The Bill for US Debt Will Come Due
By Stuart MacPhail – February 2020
A Challenge to Political Candidates – “Getting candidates to candidly address the nation’s looming debt crisis may be the biggest challenge facing Americans in 2020”, says Jay Evensen, Columnist for Deseret News (Utah).
The writer recounts the declining economies of nations like Venezuela that carry huge debts. Then he reports: “Last month, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said what should be obvious to anyone who examines spending in Washington: ‘The federal budget is on an unsustainable path, with high and rising debt’”.
He says, “No matter how people may have come to take them for granted over time, prosperity and freedom don’t come with long-term guarantees, any more than a beautiful garden will continue as such without care and maintenance”. Read his views HERE.
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Blue Dogs Caution Fellow Democrats: Create & Pass a Budget – In mid-January The Hill carried a story headlined Blue Dogs push Democrats to pass budget, written by Niv Elis.
The centrist Blue Dog Democrats warned their party against foregoing a budget resolution for 2021. “Failure to pass an annual budget is a failure of one of our most basic responsibilities”, said the Democratic caucus group’s fiscal co-chairmen, Reps. Ben McAdams (Utah) and Ed Case (Hawaii), in a joint statement. They also said, “We cannot begin to bring down our national debt or have serious conversations about our spending priorities if we can’t even pass a budget”.
The Blue Dog caucus has called for a balanced budget amendment to rein in the federal debt. President Trump is expected to announce a 2021 budget proposal in early February. To date, the President’s proposals have all called for major cuts in nondefense spending and significant increases in military spending.
During January Rep. McAdams issued a separate news release wherein he said, “As I get back to work in Washington, a top priority will be urging both sides of the aisle to seriously confront our exploding national debt”. He said, “My first fight in Congress — together with fellow Blue Dog Democrats — was to ensure that pay-as-you-go rules stay in place in the House. This common-sense budget enforcement mechanism is a proven tool to help stop deficit increases”. Read his release HERE.
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Trillion Dollar One-Year Deficit Surpassed – On January 13 the Wall Street Journal reported that the federal deficit totaled $1.02 trillion over the 12 months that ended in December 2019, an increase of 17.1%.
The article stated that “Federal spending … continued to outpace tax revenues: Outlays rose 7.5% to $4.5 trillion last year, compared with a 4.4% boost in 2018 that brought total federal spending to $4.2 trillion”. The government collected revenue of $3.5 trillion during 2019.
The author, Kate Davidson, said “[A]nnual deficits are projected to more than double as a share of the economy over the coming decades, as a wave of retiring baby boomers pushes up federal spending on retirement and health-care benefits”. Read Ms. Davidson’s report HERE.
