THE EXPLODING DEBT CRISIS
have engaged in bipartisan lawmaking to pass the biggest spending items that have blown up the federal budget. Just look at the No Child Left Behind Act pushed by Republican President George W. Bush with the help of the late Democratic icon Sen. Ted Kennedy... Creation of the massive Department of Homeland Security was bipartisan. The CARES Act was tagged with a $1.8 trillion cost and passed unanimously in the Senate while Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) was almost run out of Congress for demanding a roll-call vote in the House. Massie failed to get that roll call. And the leadership of House Republicans and Democrats protected members of both parties from future criticism for a coronavirus relief package that failed to jump-start the
and Democratic federal politicians to tackle the debt. Ron Paul advocates ending “all unnecessary overseas commitments,” eliminating “corporate welfare,” and shuttering “unconstitutional federal agencies.” He recommends that the people need to reject the “entitlement mentality” and embrace liberty as a replacement for the nanny state. There has to be a solution that does not rely on the goodness of the hearts of Republican and Democratic federal politicians to tackle the debt. I have a more radical solution – a constitutional balanced budget amendment and no increase to the statutory debt ceiling . I agree with Ron Paul, yet I worry that the entrenched interests in Washington, D.C. have made it impossible to cut spending through the good grace of politicians and the limited power of voters to send responsible people to Washington. The big-picture problem is when it comes time to pass giant spending bills, both parties tend to hold hands and pass them. It helps the leadership of both parties to raise contributions from lobbyists and special interests to preserve the status quo and protect the incumbent class of politicians who are the real enemy of small government. The incumbent class raises millions from lobbyists and special interests to keep their jobs. The parties bicker over the issues of taxes, judges, and spending priorities, yet they
economy. The list goes on and on... The biggest drivers of spending are
entitlement programs. According to the CBO, in 2019 revenues were $3.5 trillion, with $2.7 trillion dedicated to mandatory spending and $1.3 trillion to discretionary spending. The mandatory numbers broke down to $1.3 trillion for major health care programs, including Medicare ($775 billion) and Medicaid ($409 billion). But these numbers take into account receipts that are collected to fund these programs, so the numbers are lower than the true number. Social Security cost about $1 trillion, and when you add up all mandatory spending now, it chews up most of the money coming from taxpayers. Brian Riedl of the Manhattan Institute projects “Social Security and Medicare face a combined $100 trillion cash deficit over the next 30 years, which is projected to
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December 2020
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