If you’re to believe Treasury Department officials, including the Secretary Timothy Geithner, when August 2nd arrives the U.S. government will be unable to pay its debts. The problem with this crisis is that it is not a crisis at all. The U.S. government takes in $194 billion in tax revenue, on average, each month. The interest on the national debt is approximately $26 million per month. The term “risking the full faith and credit of the United States,” is thrown around as if the U.S. will suddenly become incapable of paying its debts…hogwash.
In addition to debt payments, the government pays out $135 billion on Defense, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security each month. If you wrap up debt payments with Defense and the “social contract,” there remains a net balance of $33 billion dollars each month which goes to “discretionary” spending.
So, if there’s enough to pay the government’s credit card, healthcare for Senior Citizens and the poor, and support 2.5 wars, what’s all the hubbub about? Understanding requires digging into the operation of the government itself.
The remaining $33 billion dollars left of tax revenue each month will not sustain the bloated bureaucracy of Washington. You can look at just one department to understand the problem; the Department of Education will consume this year, hold on to your hats, $77.8 billion; this means that each month the Department of Education gobbles up $6.5 billion. Toss in the other 14 departments and the problem becomes all too clear. A country that produces $2.3 trillion in revenue cannot spend $3.7 trillion as was requested in the President’s latest budget; the math simply doesn’t work.
Let’s do some simple “main street” math: You work hard for the $75 thousand you make each year. After Uncle Sam takes his bite, your state has a taste, a meager $4,875 each month makes its way into your bank account. You like to live the high-life, so you spend with abandon, racking up $6,000 per month in bills. What do you do? If you’re like most Americans, you don’t do it in the first place. If you’re less than responsible, you put the shortfall on your credit card; so the guy living next door driving the Lexus might also be sporting a credit card debt in the tens of thousands. This irresponsible home town example is the perfect case in point as to how our government functions.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has stated repeatedly that there are no contingency plans if lawmakers do not give the U.S. government the authority to borrow more money. Is living within your means a “contingency?” How many Delta Smelt protection programs, studies of shrimp jogging on tiny treadmills or high-speed rail systems from L.A. to Vegas does it take for the American public to scream “no more!” Perhaps the Tea Party has already answered that question.
Top Treasury officials have admitted to Reuters that they’ve been investigating means to avoid a financial collapse should the government be unable to pay its bills on time. Lies, lies and complete falsehoods. Might the Interior Department have to shut down? Yes. Might the Department of HHS have to furlough some employees? Yes. But don’t be too concerned, HHS has 73 thousand employees, so be sure there’s plenty to spare.
More frightening is the possibility that the White House may instead embark upon a course that can only lead to a constitutional crisis. Sources within the Obama administration have leaked that they are investigating the possibility that the U.S. Constitution allows President Barack Obama to ignore Congress and continue to issue debt. The argument being made by some in the administration is the 14th Amendment to the Constitution which asserts that the United States’ public debt “shall not be questioned.” Yet the country brings in far more in revenue each month than its debt service, unless you redefine the term “debt.” Should the President choose to attempt such a tactic he can expect a Tea Party uprising that will make the 2010 town hall meetings look like a quilting bee.
White House spokeswoman Amy Brundage said, “Despite suggestions to the contrary, the 14th Amendment is not a failsafe that would allow the government to avoid defaulting on its obligations.”
A 1985 finding stated that the Treasury Department can prioritize payments and manage a default; however the White House doesn’t like to discuss options beyond a deal to increase the debt ceiling as they fear this will allow lawmakers to dither and potentially not grant the 2-year $2 trillion increase that would allow Mr. Obama to get through the 2012 election before having to deal with another debt crisis.
Treasury spokeswoman Colleen Murray said, “As we have said repeatedly over the past six months, there is no alternative to raising the debt limit. The only way to prevent a default crisis and protect America’s credit-worthiness is to enact a timely debt limit increase, which we remain confident Congress will do.”
Treasury has maintained that there is no contingency plan should Congress fail to increase the debt ceiling; of course such a position is laughable because everyone outside the Beltway, and even most within D.C. know that’s a complete falsehood. “Our plan is for Congress to pass the debt limit,” Geithner said late in May. “Our fall-back plan is for Congress to pass the debt limit, and our fall-back plan to the fall-back plan is for Congress to pass the debt limit.”
Democrats being confronted by the possibility that failing to raise the debt ceiling won’t cause a default have adjusted their talking points to include the term “near default.” What does that mean? Is that like when you go to McDonalds and you’ve got $5 in your wallet but the tab comes out to $5.37 and in panic you dig through the lint in your pockets and find 40 cents?
So what happens should the White House and Congress fail to come to terms on increasing the debt ceiling? The answer is simple: we fund our entitlements, there is sufficient revenue; we pay our soldiers; the money is there. We cancel or delay some projects. If delaying an additional lane of 16 miles of Interstate 95 that wouldn’t be completed for 3 years is a bit of an inconvenience, so is bankruptcy. Could it mean that the plug will get pulled on the shrimp training for the crustacean marathon? Sadly yes. Might they average time for completion of an FHA loan go from 3 weeks to 4? Possibly. The fact is the world won’t come to an end. Once and for all, it is time to demand our government operates like millions of households and businesses: $1 comes in and at most $1 goes out.