Fiscal irresponsibility: 2007 U.S. Budget
February 5, 2008
Quick question for you. How much more did the U.S. spend in 2007 than it “earned”? According to Wikipedia, the government will rake in $2.4 Trillion from 2007 taxes. The 2007 “budget” calls for $2.8 Trillion in expenditures, but this does not count supplemental “war on terror” funding of at least $70 Billion. So, last year our government spent $470 Billion more than it took in. That means the answer is: $470 B/$2,400 B = approx 20%. TWENTY PERCENT!
Let me say that again – in 2007 the U.S. government spent 20% more than it received.
What kind of example does this provide for us? No wonder the U.S. has a negative savings rate, and the dollar isn’t what it used to be. And, there’s no end in sight. According to early reports, the ‘08 budget calls for $410 B of deficit spending (and this is with war spending $120 B lower than 2007 levels. If you believe it’ll remain that low, I have a nice package of subprime mortgages I’d like to sell you…)
It gets worse. Due to many years of such atrocious “budgeting”, our government owes itself (social security and medicare “surpluses” that have already been spent), other countries, corporations, and individual bondholders $9.2 Trillion dollars – or in more real terms – $60,100 per working citizen (or $30,400 per man, woman, and child). And this is going up at a steady rate (over $1M/minute due to interest alone).
Ask yourself a question – how long would you be able to survive if you had $60,100 in additional debt and you spent 20% more than you made? I’m guessing bankruptcy would soon be calling for most of us (considering that the average working U.S citizen earns $32,140). This picture only gets worse once we consider that the U.S. population is aging, and soon there will be no social security and medicare “surpluses” for the government to spend.
Isn’t this something we should care about? Not just care about – be horrified by! I think it’s our civic duty to implore the people authorizing the spending to change their ways. It’s why I voted for Ron Paul in the primary. I’m fairly certain he has no chance of winning (maybe he’ll get enough votes to make the other candidates nervious and inspire change) but at least I’m trying.
Are you?
Even more important – will you?
If you don’t want to vote for Ron Paul, how about writing your congressional representatives? I pledge to write my congressional representatives within 30 days. Anyone want to join me?
I admit, I’m clueless about the news of late. Why Ron Paul? What’s his angle?
Check out his website – http://www.ronpaul2008.com/issues/
I like him because he takes the constitution very seriously. He stands for reduced governmen & increased freedom. He’s one of very few people who voted against the patriot act and the Iraq war. He’s a true libertarian. Here’s one excerpt I particularly like:
Simply put, freedom is the absence of government coercion. Our Founding Fathers understood this, and created the least coercive government in the history of the world. The Constitution established a very limited, decentralized government to provide national defense and little else. States, not the federal government, were charged with protecting individuals against criminal force and fraud. For the first time, a government was created solely to protect the rights, liberties, and property of its citizens. Any government coercion beyond that necessary to secure those rights was forbidden, both through the Bill of Rights and the doctrine of strictly enumerated powers. This reflected the founders’ belief that democratic government could be as tyrannical as any King.
Few Americans understand that all government action is inherently coercive. If nothing else, government action requires taxes. If taxes were freely paid, they wouldn’t be called taxes, they’d be called donations. If we intend to use the word freedom in an honest way, we should have the simple integrity to give it real meaning: Freedom is living without government coercion. So when a politician talks about freedom for this group or that, ask yourself whether he is advocating more government action or less.
Sounds good. I do agree with libertarians on many issues.
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My cousin is a big Ron Paul supporter, or at least he was several months ago. I keep meaning to ask him about it, but alas, I keep forgetting to. Not too many Ron Paul supporters out there, but what supporters he does have sure do support him. A lot. I saw a Ron Paul for president 2008 bumper sticker the other day. We haven’t had our primaries yet, just the democratic caucuses. I think we vote in May. I still have time. What else about Ron Paul do you think is really important? I’ll go to his website sometime, but just not now. There’s dinner to be had. More scrambled eggs…yum….