The Deficit: Why It’s a Spending Problem

You can pick any significant number of consecutive years you want.  Any, say 10-15 years.  And compare the receipts from one year to the prior year.  See what ya get.  For example, I’ll pick the most recent set of years; 2000 through the estimates for 2016.  Look:

There are 16 possible opportunities for receipts to go up or down.  Of those 16, they go up for 12 of ’em.  The time frames when they are going down is after the recession of 2000 and the shock of the 9/11 attacks.  The second time frame is during the most recent recession.  Other than that, the tax receipts increase.  In fact, if you go back further than 2000, the next most recent decrease in revenues comes in the 1982-1983 year.  That’s 17 consecutive years of tax growth.

So, what does this tell us?

It tells us that those who are calling for tax increases in order to satisfy the “increase revenue” meme aren’t looking at the full picture.  Left alone, taxes will deliver year over year growth.

In fact, if you take the historic annual tax receipt increase since after the war and assume that going forward, you can easily balance the budget.  For example, if we allow the budget to GROW, that is no cuts, but only grow by 2%, we have a balanced budget in 2023:

Easy.

Limit spending.  Don’t raise taxes.  Balance the budget in 12 years.

It’s spending people, spending.  W do NOT have a taxing problem.

Advertisement

Debt Super Committee

So, the bi-partisian debt committee Has admitted to failure; they are unable to reach an agreement on the gap they were to address. A couple of things:

1. There is no one that seriously thinks we have a revenue problem. If they say that they are died in the wool Statists or they are lying.

2. The committee was never really considering realm cuts to spending. They were talking about cutting the amount they were gonna increase spending. Never, ever, was the idea to spend less next year than this year.

3. Failure to reach an agreement isn’t the end of the world; we still get 1 trillion in cuts.

4. Republicans running around claiming they can’t cut the Pentagon’s budget are acting like Democrats.

5. With that said, defense spending IS called for in the constitution. Food stamps and section 8 are not.

How To Address The Deficit

All the talk has been about how we are going to reduce our debt and cut into our deficit.  Indeed, much debate has occurred over the proper way to accomplish this.  Those on the right are more willing to see a solution that attacks this problem only through reduction in spending.  More centrist folks want a raise in the tax revenues to be part of that solution.

I happen to fall in the middle.  While I really want spending to be the only method we use, I’m willing to compromise and agree to small tax increases.  But only because I don’t think the taxes being proposed are meaningful and amount to a political win only for the Democrats.

In other words, give ’em there trophy so that we can get to the business of fixing this mess.

But then I saw this:

Democratic leaders in the Senate are scrambling to avoid defections on President Obama’s jobs package, which appears headed for defeat on Tuesday.

…

Lieberman opposes the bill because the 5.6 percent surtax on millionaires is being used for new spending instead of reducing the deficit

This is why you can’t negotiate with these people.  And this is why this problem may never get fixed.

The Tea Party Was Right

The government’s credit rating was cut today.  For the first time in the history of the planet the United States of America is no longer a sure bet on it’s credit.  To be sure, AA+ isn’t nothin to sneeze at, but it’s not, ahem, Money.

The impact:

S&P cut the long-term U.S. credit rating by one notch to AA-plus on concerns about the government’s budget deficits and rising debt burden. The move is likely to raise borrowing costs eventually for the American government, companies and consumers.

And the why:

“The downgrade reflects our opinion that the fiscal consolidation plan that Congress and the Administration recently agreed to falls short of what, in our view, would be necessary to stabilize the government’s medium-term debt dynamics,” S&P said in a statement.

The deal reached by Congress and signed by the President doesn’t do anything about our fiscal woes.  Cries from the Left that we aren’t raising revenue ring hollow as the United States regularly see year over year revenue gains of over 7%; revenue is NOT the trouble.

Spending is the problem.

And the liberal Left will not listen and take action.  They continue down the path that somehow someone isn’t paying their fair share yet irresponsibly care to put pen to paper and define what that fair share really is.

What we are seeing now is the natural result of the kind of quasi socialism that exists in the world today.

The Tea Party is right.

Boehner and Obama Debt Limit Negotiations

The Hill is reporting that Boehner has ended negotiations with the White House over raising the debt limit ceiling:

House Republican leaders have called off negotiations with the White House over a broad deficit-reduction deal tied to an increase in the federal debt limit and will begin exclusive talks with Senate leaders to avert a government default on Aug. 2, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) announced Friday.

Boehner told House Republicans in a letter that President Obama is “adamant” about raising taxes and would not agree to “fundamental changes” to entitlement programs.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone.  Obama’s time in the Oval office to date is nothing but speeches that say one thing followed by policy that does another.  To have thought that Obama was serious when he claimed he was willing to cut spending, reform medicare and social security is wishful thinking at best

There isn’t a bone in Barack’s body that’s willing to reduce government spending.  The whole of his life has been spent enlarging government for the benefit of the “less fortunate”.  I’m convinced Obama can’t envision a world where government shrinks.  And reforming the entitlement programs?  HA!  If he speaks about reforming ’em, he isn’t talking about it in the way that you and I would reform ’em.  In his mind those reforms take the shape of ADDING to the revenue side to reduce the deficit of the programs.  Again, there is simply no way this man will shrink that aspect of government either.

There is no way that Obama means “spending cut” in any way that resembles reality as it relates to the common everyday American.

So, the fact that Boehner walked on him is the most positive thing that’s happened in a week.  Or weeks, for that matter.

With only 1 week before the government shuts down, it looks like we’re facing exactly that; a shutdown.  And judging by the reaction in Minnesota, namely — who cares? — and the fact that the Democrat gave in and accepted the Republican’s deal, I say let ‘er go.

America is fed up with the spending and it’s time we address it.

We Need To Increase Revenue

That’s the call from the Left.  In order to balance the budget, or begin to balance the budget, we’re gonna have to at least consider raising revenues.

I’m beginning to resonate more and more with this, so, for this sake, I’ll stipulate.

We need to raise revenues.

Depressing

This via TJIC:

Apparently 50% of Americans could not get their hands on $2000 to deal with an emergency in 30 days. This includes money they’re saved, or could borrow through a credit card, from another financial institution, or from friends or family. And it isn’t just poor people. IIRC 30% of people making between $100k and $125k couldn’t come up with two grand in a month.

Huh?

30% of people making between 100k and 125k couldn’t come up with 2 grand in 30 days for an emergency?

I don’t care WHAT color you are, red elephant or blue donkey.  The fact that America is that frackin’ broke is why we are in trouble.