As we know the federal government can pay for expenditures only if Congress has approved the expenditures. If the total expenditure exceeds revenues collected then there is a deficit within the budget, and the only way that can be paid then is through the Department of Treasury to borrow the shortfall amount by the issue of debt instruments. The federal law states that there is a borrow limit for the government which is set by the debt ceiling, which only can be increased by a vote from Congress.
As of May 2011, based on Wikipedia, approximately 40 percent of US government spending relied on borrowed money. By raising the debt ceiling allowed the federal government to continue to borrow more to support current spending levels. If the debt ceiling had not been raised, the federal government would have had to cut spending immediately by 40 percent, affecting many daily operations of the government, besides the impact on the domestic and international economies.
With that said, Who's at fault, and how do we fix this $14,952,275,165,133.20 debt?
As of May 2011, based on Wikipedia, approximately 40 percent of US government spending relied on borrowed money. By raising the debt ceiling allowed the federal government to continue to borrow more to support current spending levels. If the debt ceiling had not been raised, the federal government would have had to cut spending immediately by 40 percent, affecting many daily operations of the government, besides the impact on the domestic and international economies.
With that said, Who's at fault, and how do we fix this $14,952,275,165,133.20 debt?
I think as an American citizen, we are about 20% the blame for our debt due to our reckless individual spending. The other 80% goes to the Government. I think its a simple balance of the US check books to me "simple" you would think. But that is not the key,if the banks don't allow the average American citizen to borrow on our own debts, the USA should not be able to do the same. Stop the spending and get back to a process of paybacks.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US_Public_Debt_Ceiling_1981-2010.png
Clinton was a true financial president based on the facts. Bush Jr. and Obama has taken the pockets of American and pulled them completely out of the slots. Is it really true that spending money you don't have, help strengthen the country and generate money to help the US get out of debt? Logically this shit makes no since at all.
Simple.
ReplyDeleteChange the tax code. No single act will do more than that to fix the debt issue.
We need either a national sales tax aka consumption tax or a (near) flat tax with very very few exemptions, 10% maybe?
I can't agree with the flat tax because 10% may hurt the poor moreso than the extremely wealthy. However, a sliding scale could be the solution based on your income level. I think we should look at the debt, and decide the levels of tax. Isn't that what you do with your own bills?
ReplyDeletei say flat tax but really its more like 3-4.
ReplyDelete0% under 75k
5% 75k-250k
10% 250k+ = 10
Corp
5% Over 1000k Employees
10% over 1000k Employees
Something like that - ruff ideas