Debt Ceiling: Congress Must Slash Spending

On the second anniversary of the Obama Administration came the news that the government’s accumulated debt had crossed another portentous threshold and now exceeds $14 trillion.

• It took 51 weeks to grow from $12 trillion to $13 trillion.
• It took only 27 weeks to grow from $13 trillion to $14 Trillion
  

The government’s fiscal year began on October 1, so the first quarter of fiscal 2011 is already behind us.  Astoundingly, even in the face of an unprecedented debt crisis the government spent 3% more than in the first quarter of fiscal 2010! (Source: Monthly Treasury Statement: December, 2010)

The political-media establishment blames taxpayers for this debt crisis.  But The data show spending is the real cause.

Whenever they’re confronted with their profligate spending Democrats blame “wars that were not paid for.”

Fortunately, we can check this claim because the Congressional research service has provided a meticulously detailed report of the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In the report they tabulate Defense Department expenditures plus expenditures by other departments (Veterans Affairs for example) that were made necessary by the wars.   It turns out that over the nine years since the 9-11 terrorist attacks the entire cost of both Iraq and Afghanistan has been just over $1 trillion.   During the same nine years the government spent a total of $26.7 trillion.

So, the notion that there would be no debt crisis if there had been no military operations in Iraq or Afghanistan turns out to be bunkum.

President Obama and the Democrats want us to believe the current tax rates, known as “Bush tax cuts,” that were enacted in 2003 caused tax revenue from “the rich” to decline.  Again the data contradict them.

The 112th Congress faces an unprecedented crisis.  Today, government Debt is about 95% of GDP.  The only time it was ever higher than today was during World War II when it touched 120% of GDP.  But unlike today 90% of the war time budget was for military expenses.  When the war ended most of the cost of government ended with it.  Debt was reduced to 60% of GDP within a decade.

This time, the cost of overseas combat operations is only about 4% of total spending.  There would be no significant decrease in government borrowing even if the President were to simply abandon Iraq and Afghanistan and bring all troops home immediately.

As always Democrats and so-called progressives insist that all would be well if only the rich paid a little more.  But even if the IRS increased the tax rate on all income over $500,000 from 35% to 90% it would not generate enough to balance the budget.

If it were possible to enact sweeping tax hikes and increase income tax revenue by 50%,  this year’s deficit would still be over $1 Trillion.

There is only one way out of this crisis: deep cuts in spending.

We suggest Congress enact a scheduled phase-out all programs not explicitly authorized by the US Constitution.