Deficit Alarm Ringing: Urgent Action Required

The Congressional Budget Office released its annual Budget and Economic Outlook last week.  It demonstrates the urgency of the mission voters elected Republicans to undertake.

CBO’s projections are based on, quoting from the report:

…the assumption that current laws governing taxes and spending will remain unchanged.

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 new Republican majority in the House of Representatives was was sworn in January 5 but so far has not held a vote on spending cuts.   The GOP should adopt the same sense of urgency that drove the Democrats’ in 2009 when both houses of Congress passed Obama’s trillion dollar stimulus act on his 24th day in office.

In his State of the Union address President Obama proposed not to cut spending but to “freeze” spending at the current level, the highest in US history, which would ensure that the CBO estimates become reality.

• The government is borrowing 40¢ of every dollar it spends.
• The government is borrowing $4.1 billion dollars every day, seven days a week.
• Because of compound interest the debt is growing at the rate of $5.3 billion every day.
• To put that in perspective, the IRS collects an average of $3 billion per day in individual and corporate income tax combined.

The political-media establishment predicts a major, budget “fight” in Congress in the coming weeks over spending.  We The People must participate with a deluge of emails, phone calls, and faxes demanding swift, deep spending cuts.