Budgets, the National Debt, and We're Running Out of Time

By Rich Kozlovich

Well, the Big Beautiful Bill passed, and it did happen before the 4th of July as the President wanted.   Remarkable.  I expected a lot more hoohah from the Democrats than Hakim Jeffries Magic Minute speech that lasted for eight hours and 44 minutes saying nothing, even his party members were falling asleep.  

But for many reasons I think this bill stinks, but to put a bit of perfume on this manure pile I have to view this as a step by step transformational journey to bring in much needed changes, positive changes, and there were a lot of them, including codifying a great many things Trump brought into being via Executive Orders.  Now those EO's can no longer be challenged by the radical judges of the federal judiciary, at least not legitimately.  The next budget bill needs to attack spending massively. Time is running out, so I hope that’s the intent.   

What would I want in a budget, actually in every budget?

1. First, I want the budget balanced.
2. A massive reduction in the size of government by defunding and thus eliminating entire agencies, and departments.   Does anyone truly believe the nation needs 457 different agencies?  
3. End income tax.
4. Reform Social Security leading to a privatized system, which is clearly necessary as the federal government's management of Social Secutiry has been flagrantly incompetent.  
5. Massive spending cuts across the board.
6. An 80% or more reduction in foreign aid.  As Senator John Kennedy of LA. once said: “I don't know why we have to give money to countries that hate us. They should be able to hate us for free.”
7. The federal government unconstitutionally owns about 25% of the land mass of the United States.  Sell it.  
8. End all grant money to academia, including student loans, which has only increased the cost of higher education while reducing the quality of education. 
9. Absolutely eliminate any kind funding for illegal aliens, other than the cost of deporting them. 

The national debt is hovering around $37 trillion dollars, that's five trillion more than in 2023.  The Congressional Budget Office projects the national debt to soar to be between over $50 and $52 trillion by 2034, but since the CBO is so bad at these predictions, and if things remain the same, one has to conclude, it'll be worse, and I think much worse. But that doesn't include all the obligations of the federal government, such as government retirement programs, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, all which may be in the 50 trillion dollar range.    

There are those who claim the real number for the nation's debt load, including borrowed money and government obligations, is in the 120 trillion dollar range!  Is that true?  I have no idea, and truthfully, the numbers are so massive, I don't think anyone knows for sure.  Even the Pentagon unendingly fails their audits having no idea where billions of dollars have gone over the years.  And they're not unique in that respect. 

There are agencies that have spent billions and no one tracked those expenditures, worse yet, no one knew there wasn't a tracking system in place.   At least until DOGE went in and audited agencies with AI programs and discovered that's what was happening, which was shocking.  The entire leadership of each of those agencies should have been fired. 

Are the banks sound and safe?  It turns out the FDIC had a shortfall of $70 billion dollars in 2023.  Now...that's a lot of short fall.  Banks are paying a fee to the FDIC which is supposed to be self funding, how did that happen?  No one seems to know.  I've written a lot about the national debt and the looming danger it represents, here are my National Debt Commentaries, and My Fixing Government Commentaries

In February of 2023 I wrote:

 ".......at least 90 times in the 20th century and 74 times from March 1962 to May 2011, including 18 times under Ronald Reagan, eight times under Bill Clinton, seven times under George W. Bush, and five times under Barack Obama. In practice, the debt ceiling has never been reduced, even though the public debt itself may have reduced."

 

Joe Biden raised it once.  Trump raised it three times in his first term and now he's done it again, and during his first term even wanted to eliminate it entirely.  I find that troubling.   I find it shocking so little attention is being paid to the national debt.  I find it mind boggling the vast majority of those in power don't seem to be concerned the interest on the national debt is expected to amount to $952 billion dollars,  the second highest expense of the federal government, and now will be over a trillion dollars a year.   Do we really believe the nation can sustain itself with a national debt of over $50 trillion dollars, and I would assume the interest on that would end up pushing between $1.5 and $2 trillion dollars a year.  

 

That's not sustainable, and we're running out of time.  

 

Here's more, and I will be updating this over the next couple of days, and trust me, there's as much propaganda as there is fact in the articles appearing:

• Congress Surrenders to Trump - Trump, as did Augustus and other epochal leaders before him, is cobbling together a principate, retaining the outward constitutional forms, but consolidating power into a single individual..........
• The BBBA’s hidden tax hike on America’s farmers - The devil is in the details, and lawmakers must work to snip this one out of Trump’s funding bill........
• BBB passes in House: Illegals to pay for their own phony asylum filings - Illegals will think twice about clogging the courts with junk claims......... 
• Golden Age Secured: House Passes BBB - President Donald Trump’s big, beautiful bill is en route to the White House, the culmination of months of work by the President and his team and the realization of scores of campaign promises......
•  The Autopen Speaks: Biden Comes Out of Retirement to Bash Trump’s BBB -Former President Joe Biden made a rare reentry into the spotlight Thursday to attack President Donald Trump’s landmark legislative victory, posting on X just hours after the “One Big Beautiful Bill” cleared the House................    
• Rep. Andy Ogles: Trump Deserves Third Term, Place on Mt. Rushmore After BBB Success -   Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) is celebrating the passage of the “big, beautiful bill,” asserting that President Donald Trump not only deserves a spot on Mount Rushmore but consideration for a third term as well.........
• Dem Freakout: ‘We’re Going to See People Die’ - Thursday on CNN’s “The Arena,” Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) claimed President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax and spending bill will cause people to die............( My Take - These are the same people who supported the ban on DDT which has been responsible for the unnecessary deaths of over 100 million people and adverse affects on hundreds of million more from malaria and other mosquito borne diseases. RK) 
• Let seniors keep their HSAs — before it’s too late -  Today, the Big, Beautiful Bill will become law once President Donald J. Trump puts ink to paper at a big, beautiful signing ceremony in Iowa.  Despite opposition from every Democrat in Congress, the House and Senate enacted critical measures to benefit millions of blue-collar workers and their families.  It’s another promise from the campaign trail that has become a reality............ Medicare’s insolvency is not some far-off problem. It’s right around the corner. Congress can fix this if only the will exists. ........Medicare is already on the brink of a financial crisis.  The Medicare Trustees’ latest report warns that the Hospital Insurance Trust Fund — which pays for Medicare hospital stays — could be depleted in as little as three to five years.  After that, Medicare would only be able to cover about 90% of hospital insurance claims, leaving seniors vulnerable to cuts or higher costs..........