Commentary and Opinion By Donna Westfall – February 4, 2023

At last, a Speaker of the House that not only makes sense but can explain logically so that any dufus can understand. The Western Journal describes House Speaker, Kevin McCarthy, as “….masterfully takes reporter to school….”

McCarthy had an hour long meeting with President Biden over how to avoid default and whether or not the debt ceiling should be eliminated. Afterwards he spoke with reporters in terms even a teenager can understand.

If your parent gives you a credit card and you spend it to the limit, then the parents are responsible for paying that credit card.

If your expenditures are exceeding your income, you’ve got to reduce expenditures or increase income or both to get your fiscal house back in order.

Otherwise, interest on your debt alone will eventually bankrupt you.

The US is in a serious financial situation called impending DEFAULT. Simply put the national debt includes both what the government owes others and owes itself. Ultimately spending cuts are going to have to take place. With $31.4 trillion in debt, the latest figures in January 2023, doing away with the IRS and creating a national sales tax is one suggestion; but the odds of that ever happening is between zero and never gonna happen.

WHY DOES THE US OWE SO MUCH MONEY?

Tax cuts, stimulus programs, increased government spending, and decreased tax revenue caused by widespread unemployment in combination with billions of dollars of fraud in many programs unaccounted for generally account for sharp rises in the national debt.

Who are we indebted to:

DOMESTIC DEBT:

$24.53 trillion as of January 2023

FOREIGN DEBT:

1.) China owns $1.095 trillion of the total $28 trillion .

2.) Japan owns about $1.08 trillion in US Dollars.

3.) United Kingdom owns about $645.8 billion

4.) Belgium owns about $332.9 billion

5.) Luxembourg owns about $312.9 billion

6.) Cayman Islands owns about $283.3 billion

Let’s go back to public debt. What does that mean? Did you know the government borrowed against Social Security? That’s called intragovernmental debt which was $6.18 trillion as of December 2022. Of this $2.7 trillion is an obligation to Social Security Administration.

LET’S CONCENTRATE ON APPROXIMATELY $2.7 or $2.8 TRILLION – SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION:

If you’re worried about not collecting SS benefits during retirement, you may have a valid concern. Since there are less employees and employers paying into the system, SS is running out of money. There are predictions that by 2030 benefits will have to be cut.

Not only are there less people paying into the system but here are other reasons that contribute:

• Higher life expectancy

• Lower birth rates (have to include abortion in that figure – over 64 million performed since 1973)

• Job and industry losses

• Inflation

Biden wanted to continue discussions with McCarthy but made it clear he wants to separate government spending from the national debt. That reminds me of the Frank Sinatra song, “Love & Marriage.”

“Love & marriage, love & Marriage,

Go together like a horse and carriage.

This I’ll tell you brother

You can’t have one without the other”

In a nutshell….Our country’s debt is high because it continues to spend more than it receives in revenue. Then there’s the old saying, “Democrats have never met a tax they didn’t like.” When will it end? When Biden and his cronies are voted out of office. (or kicked out due to impeachment or treason). Their patterns of spending are reckless.

Then there’s California. This past week’s discussion resurfaced about charging taxes on miles driven. They won’t reduce or eliminate the gas tax. They just want to create more taxes. Last year our state had a budget surplus. This year it’s got a huge deficit. Too bad Senator Brian Dahle wasn’t elected. He would have made a great Governor for our State.

To end, it reminds me of this City. They went from borrowing $19.2 million to $43.8 million in the course of a couple months back in 2007 without asking any questions on expanding the wastewater treatment plant that this town could not afford. But, no one was listening. It didn’t take much time at all before they realized they couldn’t pay back the loan.

Well, folks, when you have poor management at the local, state and federal levels no wonder our country is in such a mess.