E-Newsletter No. 119 November 2023
We are deferring our discussion about the Executive Branch and our weaponized Administrative State (aka the Swamp) until next month. This month’s newsletter will pick up on the ongoing dysfunction relating to the federal government’s lack of fiscal responsibility.
As you recall, when the federal government’s new fiscal year was about to begin on October 1st and the required appropriation bills had not yet been passed, Congress chose to continue to follow “business as usual” and passed a short-term Continuing Resolution to provide authorization for continued spending at current spending levels through Friday November 17th (right before Thanksgiving). This ongoing dysfunction of failing to pass the required appropriation bills on a timely basis cost Kevin McCarthy his job as Speaker of the House, because his “deal” with House conservatives back in January was to not let this happen yet again.
Are things any better now that the House of Representatives has elected Mike Johnson as Speaker? In our opinion, the answer is “Somewhat.” On November 14th, the US House passed a “laddered” Continuing Resolution, which was subsequently approved by the Senate and signed by President Biden on November 16th. This temporarily averted a government shut down, as the can was again successfully kicked down the road. Spending at current levels under four of the appropriations can continue until January 19th and can continue for the other eight appropriations until February 2nd.
While all of this was going on this past month, a significant and unprecedented event happened, which received close to zero coverage by the corrupt mainstream media. The amount of the federal government’s “on book” debt owed on behalf of every citizen (every man, woman, retiree and minor child) is now officially over $100,000 each. How we got to this unprecedented level of debt is easy to discern. The issue is not due to a “government revenue” problem – – the taxes that taxpayers pay is burdensome enough. The debt problem continues to grow due to unchecked spending by the government. As we discussed last month, the unfortunate truth is that the largest portion of this spending is for the Socialist programs known as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and welfare, along with interest on the constantly growing debt. The government is putting this spending on its “credit card” and is pushing the obligation onto future generations. It’s no wonder that the government’s credit rating was recently downgraded.
This month, we added a new Conversation Piece to our website. Fiscally responsible individuals need to “manage their checkbook.” Unfortunately, the federal government’s financing is upside down (basically, the checkbook balance is zero) so the government finds itself (mis)managing its “debt book.” We didn’t go all the way back to the start of the government’s debt book, but the link below takes you to a table that shows the progression of the government’s debt amount (which is driven by the spending requests of the Progressive Left) since January 1, 2014. This “debt book” balance has grown to $33.7 trillion as of November 1, 2023.
www.f2ppr.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/The-Federal-Governments-Debt-Book.xls
US Debt Clock – – October 1st – $98,800 per citizen / November 1st – $100,350