"Interest payments on the debt cost $452 billion last year, the largest federal spending category after Medicare-Medicaid, Social Security, and defense"
That is BILLIONS with a "B," American!
All to BORROW MONEY you DON'T HAVE and can NEVER REPAY!!!!
The NUMBER ASTOUNDS even MY FLABBY OLD TIRED JADED ASS, readers -- and that is saying something.
WASHINGTON --What is $1.42 trillion? It's more than the total national debt for the first 200 years of the Republic, more than the entire economy of India, almost as much as Canada's, and more than $4,700 for every man, woman and child in the United States.
It's the federal budget deficit for 2009, more than three times the most red ink ever amassed in a single year. And, some economists warn, unless the government makes hard decisions to cut spending or raise taxes, it could be the seeds of another economic crisis....
END the WARS!
"As we accumulate more and more debt, we leave ourselves very vulnerable," says Kenneth Rogoff, a Harvard professor and former chief economist for the International Monetary Fund.
Forecasts of more red ink mean the federal government is heading toward spending 15 percent of its money by 2019 just to pay interest on the debt, up from 5 percent this fiscal year.
Yes, that is where BILLIONS of YOUR TAX DOLLARS are going, America! PAYING INTEREST to PRIVATE BANKS in the form of the Federal Reserve.
President Barack Obama has pledged to reduce the deficit once the Great Recession ends and the unemployment rate starts falling, but economists worry that the government lacks the will to make the hard political choices to get control of the imbalances.
I call it the GRAND DEPRESSION!
Friday's report showed that the government paid $190 billion in interest over the last 12 months on Treasury securities sold to finance the federal debt. Experts say this tab could quadruple in a decade as the size of the government's total debt rises to $17.1 trillion by 2019....
That is where my printed paper whacked it.
Interest on the debt is the third-largest category of government spending, after the government's popular entitlement programs, including Social Security and Medicare, and the military. As the biggest borrower in the world, the government has been the prime beneficiary of today's record low interest rates....
That is really a warped and sick way of looking at things.
Only in a banker's eye....
The $1.42 trillion deficit for 2009 -- which was less than the $1.75 trillion that Obama had projected in February -- includes the cost of the government's financial sector bailout and the economic stimulus program passed in February. Individual and corporate income taxes dwindled as a result of the recession. Coupled with the impact of the Bush tax cuts earlier in the decade, tax revenues fell 16.6 percent, the biggest decline since 1932.
Related: Obama to Keep Bush Tax Cuts
I'm actually for the lower taxes; however, with government bending us over every which way that pisses me off.
Much of that debt is in foreign hands. China holds the most -- more than $800 billion. In all, investors -- domestic and foreign -- hold close to $8 trillion in what is called publicly held debt.
Related: Municipal Bond Milking
There is another $4.4 trillion in government debt that is not held by investors but owed by the government to itself in the Social Security and other trust funds.
In reading this think for a moment WHO the GOVERNMENT is in this case, American. It is YOU, TAXPAYING FOOL!!
What that last sentence means is GOVERNMENT is playing a SHELL GAME with YOUR TAX MONEY!
The GOVERNMENT OWES MONEY to ITSELF?
That sounds like STEALING to ME!
The CBO's 10-year deficit projections already have raised alarms among big investors such as the Chinese. If those investors started dumping their holdings, or even buying fewer U.S. Treasurys, the dollar's value could drop. The government would have to start paying higher interest rates to try to attract investors and bolster the dollar.
Related: A Slowly Dying Dollar
A lower dollar would cause prices of imported goods to rise. Inflation would surge. And higher interest rates would force consumers and companies to pay more to borrow to buy a house or a car or expand their business....
Yes, that is why the LAW of SUPPLY and DEMAND is BROKEN here in AmeriKa!
GAS PRICES GOING UP because the DOLLAR is DOWN!
Our refineries are SWIMMING in the stuff!
If all that happened rapidly, it could send stock prices crashing and the economy tipping into recession....
Related: Economic Recovery Missing Massachusetts
I guess we won't have to worry about tipping back.
--more--"
US is in the red for $1.42 trillion
New York Times, huh? That figures.....
I thought Congress did something about that?
"House passes bill aimed at reducing deficit" by Associated Press | July 23, 2009
WASHINGTON - With the federal deficit smashing records, the Democratic-controlled House passed legislation yesterday designed to make it more difficult to pass tax cuts or new spending programs that would pile even more billions of dollars onto the deficit.
The legislation, approved by a 265-to-166 vote, would reinstate a “pay-as-you-go’’ statute that requires tax cuts or new benefit programs be paid for with tax increases or cuts to other programs. By itself, the measure does nothing to stem the government red ink.
No, they ADD TO IT!
But if the law is broken and new legislation adds to the deficit, automatic spending cuts would hit so-called mandatory programs to make up the difference - although Social Security payments, food stamps, and the Medicaid healthcare program for the poor and disabled would be exempt, and cuts to Medicare would be sharply limited.
How about the WARS or BANK LOOTINGS? Those getting cut back?
The idea is that the threat of such painful so-called sequesters would ensure lawmakers wouldn’t violate pay-go. The bill, however, contains loopholes. For example, it allows lawmakers to renew most of former President George W. Bush’s tax cuts - which many Democrats for years have said are unfair and unaffordable - without raising taxes elsewhere....
The budget is still hemorrhaging red ink and this bill died. Obviously.
