I’d like to start this off with a quote, from President Obama’s address to the nation on Monday, July 25, 2011.
“For the last decade, we’ve spent more money than we take in.”
Well, no kidding President Sherlock! (Please note and applaud my enormous restraint from using the more colorful and demonstrative version of that saying. Thank you.) Now, why do you think the President chose those first four words? “For the last decade…” I believe any honest and logical person can come to the conclusion that it was solely for political gain. Let’s not forget former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel’s November 2008 little gem of philosophy; “Never let a serious crisis go to waste…”.
Rahm’s public utterance merely acknowledged what has been status quo in Washington for decades. Yes, that was the plural form of the word, Mr. President, which more honestly identifies the situation that has, only now it would appear, become a crisis.
I’m quite certain, due to the popularity of the website usdebtclock.org, every reader of this diatribe is aware that the United States government owes someone 14.5 trillion dollars. If this actually gets published, I’d like to compose another piece, investigating the identity of all of those someones. But, for now, let’s not get bogged down in the minutia.
When all the rhetoric is stripped away and the circus atmosphere of Washington’s faux quest for “bi-partisanship” and “compromise” is cast aside, it comes down to one thing and one thing only. Democrats and Republicans have spent too much money. They can both point their bony little castigating fingers all they want, but the truth is they are all guilty.
The way we arrived at this debt is through a history of deficits. A history dating back to about 1850, when for the following fifty years, the government accumulated deficits of $991 million. A deficit is, simply, spending more than was received. From 1901 to 1939, there were 18 years of deficits. Since 1940, or the past 71 years, they’ve spent more than they took from us, in all but 12. That’s 83% of the budgets passed by Congress and signed by Presidents! ¹
Of the last 34 sessions of Congress, Republicans have held the majority of at least one House during 12 of them and Democrats, 28. Democrats have controlled both the House and the Senate 38 of those years, while Republicans have controlled both Houses 6 times, or 12 years. We’ve had a Democrat President 32 of those years and a Republican for 36 of them. ²
Now, what you hear in this age of sound-bites, is one party or the other laying claim to surpluses in individual years and blaming the other party for deficits in others. Don’t let yourself fall into that trap of deception. Think back and listen carefully now, to the talk of cuts and spending. Very few spending cuts and even fewer expenditures are discussed in terms of individual years. The most often used period is 10 years. “This will cost $___ over ten years”. “We will cut _________ spending, over ten years.” It is completely meaningless and in fact dishonest, for the pols and pundits to discuss surpluses and deficits, in terms of individual years. Of course, the elite don’t expect us to figure this out and the media sure as hell won’t call them out on it.
What? You’d like a current example of this, you say? Alright, how about the “Budget Control Act of 2011”, the legislation enacted to “stave off” the “debt crisis”? Beginning on page 9 and covering each year from 2012 through 2021, it includes authorization for an increase of over $11 billion in Social Security spending. Beginning on page 11 and covering each year from 2012 to 2021, there is authorization for an increase of $4 billion, for HHS “health care fraud abuse programs”. For the same years, it includes $9 trillion in “new budget authority”, in the “discretionary spending” category. Those are not budget decreases, like we have been led to believe. They’re simply limitations of budget increases. Of course, we all know how well the government abides by previous legislation, when it comes to spending.
Politics as usual. Create a crisis, then do absolutely nothing about the crisis, while patting yourselves on the back for averting the imaginary crisis.
In order for us, the proletariat, to gain control and return to the true representative republic form of government, which our founders graciously bestowed upon us, we must first understand that the Republicans and Democrats have long ago abandoned us. We must hold them accountable for what they have destroyed. We must not fall prey to their Houdini-esque tactics of distraction and sleight of hand. We must ignore their attempts at inciting class warfare. We the voters hold the power of term limits, with the ballot box. Sometimes, the only way to stop an infection is to amputate the limb that threatens the rest of the body. We can save our country. But, to do so will require biting the proverbial bullet and severing those in Washington, whose actions have and continue to threaten our well-being.
Our current economic situation was decades, in the making, Mr. President, and until you fully and contritely acknowledge your own party’s culpability, you are not part of the solution. Mr. Boehner and the rest of the Republican establishment, you can wipe those smirks off your faces. The same goes for you.
¹ - http://www.davemanuel.com/history-of-deficits-and-surpluses-in-the-united-states.php
