this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2023
-3 points (40.0% liked)
United States | News & Politics
7192 readers
1 users here now
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
You realize the debt ceiling is about paying old debt, not incurring new debt, yes?
https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/financial-markets-financial-institutions-and-fiscal-service/debt-limit
"The debt limit does not authorize new spending commitments. It simply allows the government to finance existing legal obligations that Congresses and presidents of both parties have made in the past."
You realize that the payments on the old debt are becoming unsustainable, yes?
"becoming"? - LOL!
Here's the thing, nothing substantive will ever be done about the debt until we commit to slashing, and I mean SLASHING the military budget.
Which will never happen because of all the military bases that are in different Congressional districts.
Point of comparison:
In 2022, the feds collected $5 Trillion and spent $6.5 Trillion:
https://usafacts.org/state-of-the-union/budget/
Social Security was $1.22 Trillion, we can't touch that because people have been paying in their whole lives.
Transfers to States $1.21 Trillion, Medicaid, Transportation dollars, "other". Same problem as defense, too many Congress critters demanded this money.
Other Spending $1.16 Trillion, Education, "Other".
Defense $1.03 Trillion - Needs to be cut. What isn't cut needs to be audited.
Medicare $756 Billion - Needs an audit for fraud and abuse, but won't come close to balancing everything.
Unemployment, SNAP, etc. "Welfare" - $619 Billion
Interest on debt - $483 Billion
No argument there. Thing is that the military budget is basically a way to funnel taxes away from public spending which they're intended for such as building infrastructure, providing healthcare, education, and so on. Instead, tax dollars end up being fed into the war industry owned by the oligarchs, which is why the military budget continues to balloon each and every year.
Yup, yup... Exactly what Ike warned about and likely what got JFK and RFK capped.