AN EXPLOSION OF DEBT

AN EXPLOSION OF DEBT

(Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

(Policy Research Institute Report)

(Dave Manuel.com, Frazer Chronicle)

 

Okay everybody knows about state’s debts; hell every new regime uses the debt as a part of their political campaign platform during an election run. States and the fed borrow money from a multitude of sources, all with hefty interest rates attached. State and federal debt follow the same general needs factors, roads, bridges, military defense…..and of course the big one for the fed, war-time indebtedness.

 

Our debt is a combination of debt obligations owed to the public, government trust fund, and in some cases to foreign nation’s loans. State spending and national, or federal spending can be a convoluted issue, and it’s why I’m here, as your editor and chief…..I study these issues, and pass on the info to you.

 

It’s kind of funny how states and the Federal Government work almost in unison to push the taxpayer into a deeper hole than they were in the day before. Making or establishing a budget, whether it be for city, township, county, state, or the fed is exactly the same proposition. You have needs and responsibilities on every level of government, and you have taxpayers who pony up the dough so that the government entity can carry out services that the taxpayers want.

 

Where the fly in the ointment comes in is where some spending is called discretionary and other is referred to as mandatory spending. These two innocuous words actually dictate where a major portion of our tax funds go.

 

There really isn’t an explosion of debt in the United States; the practice of deficit spending has been going on off and on since early in our nation’s history. However the art of deficit spending has reached defined and almost artistic form since 1949. From the 1949 election cycle to the cycle 2012, every administration, and ever president has raised the deficit spending levels from a low of only $6 billion, to as much as $6.061 billion.

 

IN THE BEGINNING

People and politicians used to watch what they spent, how much they paid, and exactly where the money was going. Oh sure, the population wasn’t what it is today, and the services offered and demanded aren’t nearly the same. However the same fiscal mentality is used to equate how much is spend to the amount brought in.

 

Wars have always brought the budgetary problems of the country to the forefront, defense is a really pricey issue, and never ever brings a penny into the coffers of the country. This lesson was learned directly after the war of independence and was graphically illustrated during the war of 1812. The United States has continually held a public debt since the United States Constitution legally went into effect on March 4, of 1789.

 

The founding fathers dealt with and manufactured a public debt so that the needs of a new nation could be met. The mentality has had more than 220 years of refinement, and thousands of ideas, programs, and a conservative bug-a-boo…..entitlements!  

 

It seems as if liberals have never heard of a group that needed help that they didn’t…..and conversely, conservatives never heard of a group that said that they needed help that they also…..didn’t. Of course entitlements are a chunk of where tax dollars go.

 

There is also education, health care, and those pesky afore mentioned entitlements, however something that conservatives do not seem to want to tackle with regards to a balanced budget is defense spending…..and war mongering…..and make absolutely no mistake, the United States, it’s foreign policy, and the attitude not only on Capitol Hill, but the Pentagon as well have seemingly never seen a Middle Eastern dispute that they didn’t want to jump into on a feet first basis.

 

HERE IN WISCONSIN

Like any other state in the union, Wisconsin is having trouble balancing its budget, and doing so in a judicious forthright manner. Whether a Democrat or a Republican is leading the state, it really doesn’t matter, its part of the trouble that we now face with regards to how we vote.

 

Candidates are so damn close in how they really feel on the issues that in many cases, a political campaign boils down to an almost beauty contest, or which person’s rhetoric sounds better! The current governor, Scott Walker ran his campaign on balancing the budget, and getting the state out of a horrific debt.

 

The jury is still out on whether his ideas have merit, pretty much exemplified by an article in the Milwaukee Journey Sentinel today. The paper stated the facts regarding at least part of his plan…..pushing back some of the debt payments well into the future. So it would appear, if you take the Journal Sentinels article as factual…..Walker didn’t really balance the state’s budget…..he simply rotated it out to a future date.

 

There also is an allegation by Democratic Senator Kathleen Vinehout that Scott Walker is using monies earmarked for colleges, schools, BadgerCare, (Wisconsin’s low income and indigent folks health care), prisons and more to make minimum payments on the interest of these debts.

 

I do not have the resources, or the manpower necessary to track this meaty subject, but given the facts that are presented in the Journal Sentinel’s article of today, and their rating of Vinehout’s information as half truths, I have to say that in a statement about how much the state debt is, how much the taxpayers are paying towards this debt, and at what percentage of interest…..5.26%, Wisconsin taxpayers are in serious trouble.

 

Paying a debt of billions at 5.26% is ludicrous…..the date that the loan will be paid off must be something like 2100, or maybe 2200. By the time the debt is satisfied, I’ll be worm food, as well my kids, their kids, and their kid’s kids. It goes on and on, there isn’t any stopping the payments…..can anybody say bankruptcy?

 

There is however a simple solution, and it makes perfect sense to Democrats as well as Republicans…..are you ready for this…..stop! See how simple that was…..and it feels good to doesn’t it? Kind of rolls around in a person’s mouth, you gain a little air, and you just say it…..”STOP.” I like it, I like the sound of the word, and God knows I’ve heard it many times in my life.

 

Picking and choosing where we spend our money is the only way we’ll dig our way out of this money pit we’re in. Don’t give me that lame crap about liberals or conservatives are gonna fix the budget…..they’re part of the problem. Get connected, stay involved, and be informed.

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!