Ticking Faster Than Ever!
Via Unsplash
We’ve talked about it before. The U.S. national debt cleared the $33 TRILLION level back in September and is still roaring ever forward. The National Debt clock in New York City is a blur.
Thoughts come to mind. For some it’s what is a trillion? Well, to put it in better understood terms, it’s a million times a million.
For others – it is whether a national debt of this size is a threat to our country. You bet.
That’s $100,500 for every single person in America.
In simple terms, this debt has increased because we spend more than we take in.
Just in 2022, federal spending was at $6.3 trillion while federal revenues stood at $4.9 trillion – a difference of $1.4 trillion in the red.
And every day, we spend over $1.8 billion in interest. In interest alone!
According to the U.S. Treasury, we pay more in interest on the national debt than on national defense.
We could go on and on with gee whiz facts about our government’s financial irresponsibility.
It seems to be a long time since anyone appeared to care a lot about government overspending and the problem of the accumulating debt.
Through the years there have been deficit hawks who have proposed national balanced budget amendments for the federal government that hopefully would help bring back financial responsibility. Most of these proposals would call for severe belt-tightening, but would allow a supermajority in Congress to waive the requirement of a balanced budget in times of war, national emergency, or severe recession.
It's not about party – the typical political response is to talk about cutting taxes – but little is focused on cutting spending.
Will anyone with courage, good sense, and leadership tackle our spending and debt problems?
If you’ve ever seen the National Debt Clock in mid-town Manhattan – it’ll get you thinking as those numbers tick off adding to the debt. It might even bring a shiver.
Why do we bring this up right now?
A major reason to highlight our national debt problem and the seemingly genetic problem for politicians to overspend taxpayers dollars is to celebrate the fiscal responsibility of our own Reform Majority in the NC General Assembly.
In recent weeks the General Assembly passed a $30 billion budget. As our current leadership has earned praise for over a decade for their conservative approach to governing, especially in budget matters, this budget also reflects a thoughtful and disciplined approach to state taxing and spending.
Yes – these leaders have a constitutional restriction to arrive at a balanced budget every fiscal year. But they have consistently been prudent with North Carolinians’ tax dollars. Even in questionable times the last few years, they have managed to build up in reserve Rainy Day funds in the billions to lift us up in tough times.
The same way we hopefully hold aside money for bad times in our own households.
The economists and political pundits will tell you the National Debt is not a big deal, that that’s just the way our country does business. It’s mesmerizing to hear them spin their tales when anyone with an ounce of common sense knows it’s hogwash Washington mumbo-jumbo.
We are thankful for the wisdom of our state legislative leaders who have had the courage to not overspend our tax dollars and have even managed to cut personal taxes and taxes on businesses – which enables employers to hire more of our citizens and keep our economy strong.
