Brother, Can You Spare $29 Trillion?

US National Debt public/intergovernmental. Source: US Treasury. Public Domain.
US National Debt public/intergovernmental. Source: US Treasury. Public Domain.

Well,  it’s time for one of those periodic “debt ceiling” fights in Congress. Every so often, American politicians argue over whether to allow themselves to borrow more money, with their promise to beat it out of your hide, plus interest, later, as their collateral.

These fights get dramatic, in the manner of a “professional wrestling match.” Sometimes there’s even a fake “government shutdown” until one side finally cries uncle and agrees that under no circumstances must the US government live within its means and that more money will just have to be borrowed.

Why? Because they can, that’s why. Or, rather, they can for now. But it can’t and won’t last forever.

Writing at the American Institute for Economic Research (“America’s Fiscal History: From Liberty to Paternalism”), Richard M. Ebeling notes that in 1868 (the first year the World Almanac made such figures available), the US government spent a whopping $301 million — adjusting for inflation, $5.8 billion.

Last year, the US government spent about $6.6 trillion.

A billion is one-thousandth of a trillion.

Last year, the US government spent about 1,138 times as much as it did 152 years ago — and borrowed $3.1 trillion of that money.

To put it in different terms, last year the US government spent about $12.5 million per minute, every minute of every hour of every day, and borrowed about $5.9 million per minute, every minute of every hour of every day.

According to USDebtClock.org, federal spending for 2021 stands (as I write this) at more than $7 trillion, and federal borrowing at more than $3 trillion, with three months remaining in the year.

The “national debt” — actually the debt of the US government, but of course the politicians want to fob off responsibility on you, even though you never co-signed their loans — currently stands at nearly $29 trillion. “Your share,” if indeed paying off their bar tab was your responsibility, would come to about $86,000.

If you haven’t already, it’s time to face a few unpleasant facts.

Fact #1: At some point, the politicians’ creditors are going to decide that loaning money to the US government has become too risky a proposition. It will get harder, eventually nearly impossible, for the US government to borrow more money.

Fact #2: The politicians’ debt is never going to be paid off. The US government is going to default sooner or later, whether openly or through scams like “monetization.”

Fact #3: When those things happen, it’s going to hurt everyone. Including you. The US government is going to raise taxes, and it’s going to cut “services,” and the dollars in your wallet are going to buy less.

Silver lining: The above process will likely end with the US government as we know it ceasing to exist. Hopefully, but not necessarily, to be replaced by something better.

But hey, maybe I’m wrong. Maybe American politicians will suddenly become fiscally responsible, refuse to raise the “debt ceiling,” and insist on a balanced budget that includes paying down that $29 trillion principal.

If you believe that, I’ve got some oceanfront property I’d like to talk with you about.

Thomas L. Knapp (Twitter: @thomaslknapp) is director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism (thegarrisoncenter.org). He lives and works in north central Florida.

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AOC Unmasks the Ruling Class

US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) laughs at some of the people she's fooled into believing she's "working class." Public domain.
US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) laughs at some of the people she’s fooled into believing she’s “working class.” Public domain.

“Working class Bronx native”  served US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) well as “elect me” schtick in 2018.

It wasn’t true — Ocasio-Cortez is an architect’s daughter who grew up in the tony suburb of Yorktown Heights (median family income of $137,580 versus the US median family income of $68,703), attended Boston University, and interned for US Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) before putting together her “just your average waitress” PR package — but it got the political job done.

AOC continues to  lean on that carefully polished mythology, most recently at the annual Met Gala, where she introduced herself and the designer of her “Tax the Rich” gown as “two working class women.”

I’ve not heard anyone explain how a “working class” gal like AOC afforded the $35,000 ticket to the gala on her pittance of a congressional salary (only $174,000 per year; the ticket cost nearly as much as the US median personal income, $35,977). Unless she manages her money very well, it seems likely that someone gave her the ticket, which makes me wonder what kind of political favors such a large bribe might be intended to buy.

I have to wonder how much money the real working class stiffs — wait staff, doormen, chauffeurs, etc. — lurking in the corners of the Met Gala’s celebrity footage earn per  year.  I bet that number falls closer to US median than AOC median.

I also have to wonder what those working class stiffs look like. They were required to wear masks while catering to the needs of AOC and her fellow ruling class party attendees as they hammed it up for the cameras, bare-faced so we could admire their pearly whites and hear the bon mots that they deigned to speak rather than air-brush onto their costumes.

The masked and anonymous serving staff included one poor guy filmed trotting along behind AOC like some European monarch’s valet, holding up the train of her designer gown to keep it from touching the ground.

Marie Antoinette supposedly never uttered the phrase “let them eat cake,” or displayed the lack of awareness of or compassion for working class conditions associated with that phrase. Is her unfortunate image as manufactured and mythological as AOC’s “working class” pretensions?

While her “Tax the Rich” gown certainly attracted attention, Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez would  have been more on point with a slogan from George Orwell’s Animal Farm: “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”

Thomas L. Knapp (Twitter: @thomaslknapp) is director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism (thegarrisoncenter.org). He lives and works in north central Florida.

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“It Can’t Happen Here,” Down Under Edition

Food court at Adelaide mall during COVID-19 pandemic. Photo by clinkey70. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
Food court at Adelaide mall during COVID-19 pandemic. Photo by clinkey70. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.

Clever tweets tend to morph in content and meaning over time. I don’t know where this one originated, and I’ve edited it to taste as people will do with such things, but I’m sure you’ll get where it’s going:

“It’s just 15 days to flatten the curve. It’s just a mask. It’s just six feet. It’s just no large gatherings. It’s just preventing ‘misinformation.’ It’s just a shot. It’s just a mandate. It’s just showing your vaccine passport on demand …”

Naturally, anyone who objected at any waypoint on that trail, or predicted the next waypoint, was roundly decried in American mainstream media as a whackjob. It was always going to be “this far and no further,” and only  “conspiracy theorists” would believe otherwise.

When I see stuff like those tweets, my first mental go-to is Martin Niemoller (“First they came for …”).

My second is Sinclair Lewis (“It Can’t Happen Here”).

And my third is Australia.

Less than two years ago, Australia could be plausibly described as a “western liberal democracy.”

Today, Australia’s regime is doing its best to show up Joseph Stalin and Kim Jong-Un as amateurs. And succeeding.

In parts of Australia, you’re allowed a luxurious one hour per day outdoors, to exercise, alone. But be sure to keep your papers on you for presentation on demand, and even then prepare for harassment by the police and armed forces, including helicopter patrols (yes, really).

If you’re a traveler allowed to return and ordered to quarantine, don’t forget to download the government’s smart phone surveillance app, which texts you at random intervals and gives you 15 minutes to respond with a selfie proving you’re where you’ve been ordered to cell in. Otherwise, police will be dispatched to track you down.

All is not lost for our Aussie friends, though. If they’re lonely, they can “nominate” one (ONLY one) friend, or romantic or sexual partner, with whom to form a “single social bubble.” If the regime approves their application, they’re graciously permitted to spend alone time with their “bonk bubble buddy.” But they must choose carefully — no backsies! They’re stuck with their choice for the duration of the “emergency.”

Am I a whackjob conspiracy theorist for worrying that America, having set its feet on that same path, may continue down the road toward “Make America East Germany Again?”

Well, maybe. But these days, I’d rather be a whackjob conspiracy theorist than an Australian.

Thomas L. Knapp (Twitter: @thomaslknapp) is director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism (thegarrisoncenter.org). He lives and works in north central Florida.

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