Budget Responsibility
Both political parties have consistently and unsustainably run up our national debt because well-connected lobbyists persuade them to spend our hard-earned tax dollars and much more.
If my monthly household spending exceeds my monthly take-home pay, I have two options: cut some of my spending, or else pick up extra shifts at work (or even a second job). I can fill up my credit cards, but this is not a long-term fix; at some point, banks will stop letting me open new credit card accounts because of my debt. If faced with the choice of cutting my spending vs working twice as much, I would choose to cut my spending. Nobody would be crazy enough to work another full-time job.
**So why do our elected officials vote for a budget that spends more money than it takes in EVERY YEAR? And how do our elected officials constantly raise the debt ceiling when we as individuals don’t have the option of opening and maxing out endless credit cards?
Instead of cutting their spending, they choose to raise taxes (which is the equivalent of making us work a second job). The top 1% of earners have armies of lawyers and accountants to find their tax loopholes, while those of us without armies of lawyers and accountants (I.e. small business owners in the middle class) bear the brunt of these new tax regulations.
Why does this happen?
Weapons contractor lobbyists persuade elected officials not to cut defense spending.
Pharmaceutical and health insurance lobbyists persuade elected officials not to cut medicare spending.
Labor union lobbyists persuade elected officials not to cut pension spending.
Sugar and food corporation lobbyists persuade elected officials not to cut government subsidies to farmers.
Banking corporation lobbyists persuade elected officials to bail out reckless banks that specialize in venture capital.
Foreign government lobbyists persuade elected officials not to cut foreign aid to their countries, and this money often funnels back to defense and energy corporations.
Energy corporation lobbyists persuade elected officials not to cut clean energy subsidies for electric cars and wind solar panels and wind turbines.
Nobody wants to decrease their piece of the pie, so they all quietly persuade elected officials to tax us more or increase the national debt that is shouldered by taxpayers.
What is the answer? I support a Balanced Budget Amendment that takes back our government from the lobbyists’ hands and forces us to operate like we do our own household: Identify our spending priorities, avoid yearly budget deficits, pay down our debt, and balance taxation with responsible spending.
Alex,
You're falling prey to a pervasive fallacy of composition: because something makes sense for one entity, that the same thing will make sense for all entities.
The financial situation of the Federal Government is *not* like a household or business. In fact, it is closer to the opposite.
The simple equation is: Government spending = private sector income.
Reducing Government spending reduces private sector income.
Having the Federal Government balance the budget would be bad, but to run a surplus is even worse: that reduces the overall wealth of the private sector by requiring asset sales to cover the additional tax burden. (Running a federal surplus has directly caused a depression/recession in every instance since the founding of the United States).
BTW, taxes have gone down consistently since the 80's for everyone across the board. It is true that the top 1% have seen their tax rates plummet, but that is not because the other groups are paying more per se. The top are paying more of a percentage of *total* taxes but only because income inequality is increasing. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2012/04/13/just-how-progressive-is-the-u-s-tax-code/
No, I mean that "Private sector" = *all* private citizens, businesses, organizations. It's very simple.
You're creating a very complex conspiracy around the basic misunderstanding.
To further blow your mind: China doesn't lend a dime to the US Gov. Not even one cent.
China accumulates $USD via trade and instead of spending those $USD, they hold them. Why do they do that? Because if they turned around and spent all the $USD they earn, their currency would go up in value and make their products more expensive for US consumers. So they hold their $USD in a US Treasury Reserve account. You and I can do this too (go to TreasuryDirect.gov). It's the very safest place to hold your $USD savings (safer than any bank)! Once you have your savings in a Treasury reserve account, wouldn't it make sense to earn some interest while it sits there? Sure! So transfer some of the cash into bonds. Is that lending the US Gov money? No!
Logically, the US Government *can't* borrow $USD. The US Gov *creates* $USD at will - we all know this - people even say it in a derogatory fashion: "the Government prints money". If you are sole creator and source of something, then technically how can you borrow it?
The US Gov does a favor to savers of $USD everywhere: it offers them a risk-free way to earn interest on their savings: US bonds. (Which is completely against the tenets of capitalism by the way! There should be no returns without risk!)