Mad as hell about the deficit, I hope you are too

No matter where you turn, there is talk of budgets, deficits, program cuts, raising taxes and all that goes with it.  I find it ironic [insert your own adjective] that the people doing the most talking are the same people who are responsible for the mess and the need for budget cuts and higher taxes.

Whether it is giving seniors a new drug benefit or passing legislation designed to push home ownership, subsidizing electric cars and new air conditioning, paying for clunkers, placing the government at risk for mortgages, paying people not to grow soybeans, conducting wars or bailing out  General Motors, the people responsible all work in Washington, DC.

Social Security didn’t get into the state it is because of stock markets or Wall Street or even the recent recession, but because politicians constantly “improved” it over the last seventy-five years and failed to fund (think tell you that you would have to pay more in taxes) the added costs for the grand promises they made.

The idea that all this budget and deficit mess just happened unrelated to the actions taken by our elected officials is ludicrous.  They are responsible, Republicans, Democrats, Independents and Socialists, conservative, and liberal.  Their short-sighted thinking and lack of any strategic concern, their ignoring of unintended consequences or planning for contingencies such as economic downturns is responsible. Their accounting gimmicks with the budget and flawed cost projections for new programs are responsible, their failure to stick with pay go is responsible.

Their solutions favoring one group or the other are inadequate and no solutions at all, most are aimed at gaining favor in the next election.  Now to cover their trail they are pitting one group of Americans against the other, they are stimulating generational warfare. Politicians want more revenue for the government so they can continue doing what they have been doing for decades.  Just think about how much of the money you pay in taxes is going to pay interest on debt owed to foreign governments and individuals.  In June the interest payments are listed by Treasury as “Interest on Treasury Debt Securities (Gross)…$110,537,000,000 (that’s billion by the way).  Take a look for yourself at the Treasury Report on Monthly Receipts and Outlays for June 2011      

Here is what the growth of our national debt looks like for the last ten years.  You can blame whomever you like, there is certainly enough to go around. But does it matter?  According to these Treasury numbers the debt grew by (be right back I have to find another calculator mine does not go that high). Ok, now I have it, the debt grew by $2,092,015,235,189 (trillion) during the last term of President Bush, but keep in mind that for the last two years of that term there was a Democratic controlled House and Senate so somebody approved the proposed spending.

The federal deficit (now over $14 trillion and growing).

Date	Dollar Amount
09/30/2010	13,561,623,030,891.79
09/30/2009	11,909,829,003,511.75
09/30/2008	10,024,724,896,912.49
09/30/2007	9,007,653,372,262.48
09/30/2006	8,506,973,899,215.23
09/30/2005	7,932,709,661,723.50
09/30/2004	7,379,052,696,330.32
09/30/2003	6,783,231,062,743.62
09/30/2002	6,228,235,965,597.16
09/30/2001	5,807,463,412,200.06
09/30/2000	5,674,178,209,886.86

You should be roaring mad at all of our politicians regardless of party, liberal or conservative.  They give you what they think you want (or more correctly what they want) and ignore the consequences.  Yikes, I sound like a Tea Party aficionado and that is not the case at all.  I’m just mad and really concerned…and you should be too.