National Debt and The Government Shutdown

By Rich Kozlovich

The last couple of weeks the media has been the "secret" supporters of the Democrat's position on the government shutdown in their war to once again attempt to destroy The United States America.   All this spending plays into the strategy by creating an entire society based on government dependence, giving them the power to destroy the Constitution and have leftists take over the government at all levels creating a totalitarian socialist society.  Truth be told, if Kamala Harris had been elected, it might have happened, and it can still happen as we're seeing the invertebrate Republicans beginning to buckle to Democrat demands.  

Once again.... definition leads to clarity, and for clarity's sake...... fascism isn't right wing, it's left wing, it's socialism.  Socialism is the mother philosophy of both fascism and communism, two sides of the same coin, and truth be told, totalitarianism if foundational to all the "isms", and has been since the French Revolution. 

• San Diego launches 'friendly' inspection teams to go digging through people's trash cans in search of recycling violations
• The left wants to save democracy by destroying it

I've written a lot on the dangers of our national debt and what do to about it in

$9 trillion: foreign treasury surge!, saying:

 The UK has overtaken China as the second-largest foreign holder of U.S. Treasuries, as total foreign ownership hits an all-time high of $9.05 trillion.

• Foreign holdings of U.S. Treasuries hit $9.05 trillion in March
  
• The UK surpasses China, now second only to Japan in U.S. debt holdings
  
• China cuts its holdings to $765 billion, continuing a five-month selling streak
  
• Japan remains top holder with $1.13 trillion in Treasuries
  
• Analysts cite trade tensions and diversification as drivers of China’s divestment 

Whether this reshuffle signals a fleeting trend or a structural pivot remains to be seen. But for now, the message is clear: trust in U.S. debt endures, even if China is taking a step back.  

So, that says foreign nations trust American debt?  Really?  What it says to me is these are loser nations who are major owners of America, and America has reached a turning point on debt, and the Big Beautiful Bill added trillions of dollars in national debt, and the media plays along with this outrage.  

For that matter we really need to start asking what is the justification for borrowing 38 trillion dollars to fund every idiotic costly political pandering scheme ever developed, and that includes both parties.  With an interest payment of "$881 billion in 2024 and projected to nearly double to $1.6 trillion by 2034. These rising costs now surpass spending on areas like Medicare and national defense, and are projected to become the second-largest category of federal spending."

 This can't go on.

Senator Everett Dirksen once said 

"A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking real money", and while it's being said he really didn't say that, he never retracted it in his lifetime either.  The fact is he's been categorized as being fiscally conservative and socially liberal, which is in fact cognitive dissonance, and his voting record shows that, and so too does that kind of cognitive dissonance apply to the Congress and the administration today. 

My grandfather was one of the world's great economists.  He said if you spend more than you make you'll go broke.  He made his living as a coal miner and a farmer, but he wasn't a stupid coal miner/farmer, unlike so many economists I've read over the years.  It's said statistics is an arcane science as you can make statistics say whatever you want them to say, and I think that applies to economics as well.  But in the end, if you spend more than you take in, bankruptcy follows.  It really is that simple.

 Update:   Bad News on the National Debt - It's now $38T, the fastest accumulation of $1T outside of the pandemic. In the midst of a federal government shutdown, the US government's gross national debt surpassed $38 trillion Wednesday, a record number that highlights the accelerating accumulation of debt on America's balance sheet,

Kent Smetters of the University of Pennsylvania's Penn Wharton Budget Model, who served in President George W. Bush's Treasury Department, told the Associated Press that a growing debt load over time leads ultimately to higher inflation, eroding Americans' purchasing power and making it less possible for future generations to achieve home ownership goals. The Government Accountability Office outlines some of the impacts of rising government debt on Americans—including higher borrowing costs for things like mortgages and cars, lower wages from businesses having less money available to invest, and more expensive goods and services.

The Joint Economic Committee estimates that the total national debt has grown by $69,713.82 per second for the past year. Michael Peterson, chair and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, said in a statement that "reaching $38 trillion in debt during a government shutdown is the latest troubling sign that lawmakers are not meeting their basic fiscal duties." "Along with increasing debt, you get higher interest costs, which are now the fastest growing part of the budget," Peterson added. "We spent $4 trillion on interest over the last decade, but will spend $14 trillion in the next ten years. Interest costs crowd out important public and private investments in our future, harming the economy for every American.".......

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..........

Get Out of Debt Card

 By Rich Kozlovich

(Editor's Note:  I originally wrote and published this article on January 30, 2013 and May 2, 2017, and I decided to publish it again today as a result of this very excellent article, DOGE takes on the Social Security monster, by Monica Showalter about the corruption leading to bankruptcy at the Social Security Administration, and it seems I have to keep publishing it.  RK)  

What is the news worth knowing and why don’t we know it?  Let’s just deal with domestic issues, primarily the budget and the nation’s debt.  There is more hot air circulating about this than there is even about Lance and Oprah.  Most of it meaningless because the economy really is far worse than the main stream media reports and important facts are being ignored by those in leadership positions!  Why?

Let’s start with the cost of regulations, because they will amount to the same thing to business and the consumers, higher costs.  It was estimated that it would cost the American consumer 1.75 trillion dollars to pay for the regulations imposed by the federal government.  Although that number is disputed because of the way in which that figure was computed, it has to be recognized that it is high and we know it is growing.  And it is the consumer that pays those costs, because as businesses costs go up prices go up.  At least until the costs get so high that they go out of business because the consumer can no longer afford it.   

According to Warner Todd Huston  on January 16^th there has been an increase of  $518 Billion in Regulations Since Obama Took Office.  He goes on to say:

Despite Obama's promise to cut unnecessary regulations, his administration issued $236.7 billion in new rules in 2012.   According to a report by the American Action Forum, headed by former Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin, the direct costs of the regulations force American businesses to waste 87 million man-hours to fill out regulatory paperwork. Adding Obama's 2012 regulatory costs to that of the rest of his first term adds up to a total of $518 billion in new costs forced onto an already anemic economic recovery. ….

 

Indeed, in 2011, Obama released a plan claiming he would cut regulations and reduce the burden on the business sector. Not long after, Obama operative Cass Sunstein praised Obama, claiming that his plan would work "to eliminate unjustified regulatory costs and to reduce burdens." Sunstein went on to say that Obama had done more to cut government red tape than any president in recent history.   Sunstein was given one Pinocchio for his misleading claims, and for good reason, as Obama's small cuts have been dwarfed by the increases.   American Action Forum says that the costs of regulations have "added tremendous costs to the economy" and finds that the year 2012 tops every year in the past twelve in "terms of final rule cost." 

Regulations are an unseen tax on the poor.  Since these impositions, whether needed or not, raise the cost of all products and services. 

On January 14, 2013 Hans Bader wrote and article, Obamacare Imposes New Fees, Cost Increases On The Public, dealing with this issue reporting:

Obamacare was sold to the public based on the fallacy that it would cut healthcare costs, but each month brings additional evidence that it will drive up healthcare costs instead. The New York Times reported last week that “health insurance companies across the country are seeking and winning double-digit increases in premiums for some customers, even though one of the biggest objectives of the Obama administration’s health care law was to stem the rapid rise in insurance costs for consumers. Particularly vulnerable to the high rates are small businesses and people who do not have employer-provided insurance and must buy it on their own. In California, Aetna is proposing rate increases of as much as 22 percent, Anthem Blue Cross 26 percent and Blue Shield of California 20 percent for some of those policy holders.” Earlier, Obamacare resulted in hikes of 41-47 percent in health insurance premiums for some policyholders in Connecticut. The Times notes that in “other states, like Florida and Ohio, insurers have been able to raise rates by at least 20 percent for some policy holders

 On January 17^th John Hayward wrote an article, ‘Uncle Sam’s hoarded, wasted wealth”, noting that it is impossible for Washington to go bankrupt due to lack of assets.  He says that:

The federal government is racking up a trillion dollars in bills each year that it cannot pay.  It long ago passed the point where any private-sector business or individual would have been required to declare bankruptcy, if not face charges of mental incompetence to manage their own affairs. But Washington is not really “poor.”  It is very rich in assets, which it could sell or lease to pay its bills, without raising anyone’s taxes.  Many of these assets would produce health economic activity in the hands of private investors, while Uncle Sam leaves them strewn carelessly across the landscape, like toys he refuses to put away after playing with them.

The Institute for Energy Research just released a new study that inventories these “vastly underutilized” federal assets:

Federal real property totals over 900,000 assets with a combined area of over 3 billion square feet and more than 41 million acres of land. Additionally, the federal government owns over 600 million acres of lands and minerals onshore, and owns or manages a total of approximately 755 million acres of onshore subsurface mineral estate.  Offshore, the federal government owns some 1.76 billion acres of lands and mineral estate, extending out 200 nautical miles from our shores.  The federal government’s total mineral estate holdings are therefore about 2.515 billion acres of lands.  Thus, the federal government’s mineral estate land holdings surpass the total surface land area of the nation of Canada.

In fiscal year 2009, federal agencies reported 45,190 underutilized buildings, an increase of 1,830 underutilized buildings from the previous fiscal year. In fiscal year 2009, these underutilized buildings accounted for $1.66 billion in annual operating costs, according to the General Accounting Office (GAO). The majority of federally owned and leased space is held by the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs, the U.S. Postal Service, and the General Services Administration (GSA). 

For example, the federal government’s landlord, the GSA, owns or leases 9,600 assets with more than 362 million square feet of workspace. According to the GSA, in a 2009 report, almost 40 percent of its assets were under performing. In October 2010, a congressional study evaluated the savings that could occur based on better administration of the government’s above ground assets that totaled over several hundred billion dollars.

How much is all this worth?

IER estimated the worth of the government’s oil and gas technically recoverable resources to the economy to be $128 trillion, about 8 times our national debt. Further, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that state and national coffers could generate almost $150 billion over a 10 year period from royalties, rents, and bonuses if these resources were immediately opened to oil and gas leasing. The CBO study estimates are considered to be conservative when compared to historical data and estimates by other analysts and do not consider the earnings from taxes paid by these industries. IER estimated the government’s coal resources in the lower 48 states to be worth $22.5 trillion for a total worth to the economy of fossil fuels on federal lands of $150.5 trillion, over 9 times our national debt. Most of the coal resources in Alaska are deemed to be federally owned and are estimated to be 60 percent higher than those in the entire lower 48 states but are not included in these estimates.

So why are we in debt?  The other thing that is discussed a great deal is the Debt Ceiling and Default.  Both of which are apparently not being reported properly.

On January 14, 2013  J.D. Foster, Ph.D. wrote this article.  “Debt Ceiling: Default Not at Issue, Federal Spending Is”.  He says;

“The only way the federal government would default on its debt in the event the debt ceiling remains unchanged is for the Treasury to choose to default—…... Suggestions to the contrary in the press and elsewhere are simply inaccurate and shameful.  The amount of debt the federal government is allowed to issue is set by statute. Federal spending is similarly established by law.

Treasury is at once prohibited by law from issuing additional debt above the limit and obligated by law to spend certain amounts for designated purposes. …..If the federal government exhausted its financial management tools, then government spending would be limited to incoming receipts. At that point, the law setting a debt limit and the laws in place directing government spending would conflict—something would have to give…...

Very simply, reaching the debt limit means spending is limited by revenue arriving at the Treasury and is guided by prioritization among the government’s obligations. How the government would decide to meet these obligations under the circumstances is a matter of some conjecture.

One thing is clear.  When those in responsible positions don’t tell the truth and those in the media don’t report the truth we have to ask why?  It is clear that the national debt could be paid, the money owed to the Social Security Administration could be repaid, and Medicare and Medicaid could be solvent.  Admittedly there would still have to be changes, but when we also realize the interest on the national debt in fiscal year 2011 was $454 billion, the highest ever in spite of the lowest interest rate in 200 years,  it must become clear that ending the debt is the first change necessary.  And apparently that can be done. 

The questions that once again must be asked are these. What is the news worth knowing, why don’t we know it, and why aren't we hearing about this on the six o’clock news? 

When An Accident is Waiting to Happen, It Eventually Does

My grandfather was a coal miner and a farmer, and one of the world's great economists.  He said if you spend more than you make you'll go broke!

By Rich Kozlovich

As my regular readers know I subscribe to John Mauldin's Thoughts From the Frontline", which appears every Saturday.  He published this article, This Time Is (Not) Different, saying:

The old saw about doing the same thing and expecting a different result is less simple than it seems........... when you see a long succession of smart people doing the same thing and getting the same bad result, it’s fair to wonder what they were thinking. Such is the case with government debt. National leaders who let too much debt accumulate always think their situation is different. It’s probably not. 

This came to mind as I was thinking about the magisterial 2009 book This Time Is Different by Carmen Reinhart and Ken Rogoff. They systematically reviewed hundreds of debt-driven crises over eight centuries, finding (surprise!) all unfolded in roughly the same way. “This time” is rarely different.  I reviewed This Time Is Different back when it was first published in a letter you can read here. With the US (and many other developed economies) now set to join the long list of countries whose debt habits ended badly, it’s even more timely no

The Congressional Budget Office projects the national debt to $50.7 trillion in 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.  

Are the banks sound and safe?  It turns out the FDIC has a shortfall of $70 billion.  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.  

The national debt is rising rapidly to a two trillion dollar deficit a year now, and the interest payment on that debt going to soon surpass the spending on the nation's defense.  That's just the interest on the national debt.  He notes in the year 2000 the national debt was $6 trillion, in 2016 it was $21 trillion, and will be $35 trillion this year, projected to be $46 trillion in 2028, just four years from now, and he notes the debt incurred by the individual states and local governments in the U.S will be an added $4.4 trillion in 2028.  According to Mauldin that means the interest on all that debt "will be more than the total amount of Medicare and defense spending combined"!  As for Social Security:

SSI assets will be depleted in 2033, at which point recipients would get automatic benefits cuts of around 20%. That won’t play well, obviously, but how would Congress fill the gap? Raise taxes, cut other spending, borrow more? No good choices. But doing nothing would no longer be an option.

And what about inflation in this mix?  Make no mistake, deficit spending is a massive driving force for increased inflation, and the machinations by the FED on interest rates will not prevent "an accident waiting to happen" once the expected, albeit unknown crisis strikes, and no one can tell what that crisis will be, when that crisis will occur, or how.   But it will happen, that's history, and that history is incontestable.

We're hearing all sort of plans, promises, schemes, some of which are downright treasonous, but I don't see anyone giving any serious thought, at least publicly, on how they're going to repay the national debt.  Why?  Because there's entirely too many people in the Congress and the government that don't want to fix the national debt, end deficit spending, stop the insane borrowing and spending because in some way they're benefiting from it. 

Mauldin is of the view the national debt can't be fixed by just cutting foreign aid, welfare, taxing the rich, or raising tariffs.  He feels it will require massive cuts in spending, and huge tax increases, all of which will "spark a societal conflagration".  I disagree with that in part.  

There are some things that are so obvious it boggles the mind that no one seems to notice them.  The legislative and executive branches of every government entity in the United States must.....must.... stop kicking the can down the road.   Then we need massive cuts in the size of government, followed by a deficit reduction budget.  In 2022 the federal government took in $4.4 trillion dollars, and spent $6.16 trillion and the deficit gap is widening. 

Mauldin quotes the authors of "This Time is Different" discussing confidence in the nation's economy by the society and the predicted unknown crisis saying:

“Economists do not have a terribly good idea of what kinds of events shift confidence and of how to concretely assess confidence vulnerability. What one does see, again and again, in the history of financial crises is that when an accident is waiting to happen, it eventually does. When countries become too deeply indebted, they are headed for trouble. When debt-fueled asset price explosions seem too good to be true, they probably are. But the exact timing can be very difficult to guess, and a crisis that seems imminent can sometimes take years to ignite.”

As Mauldin points out:

Debt is sustainable until it suddenly isn’t. Some event, some last grain of sand, triggers the hidden fingers of instability and it all collapses. And anything can be that trigger.  This is why debt crises are so destructive. By their nature, no one is prepared because no one sees them coming. A few expect them, yes, but they never know the timing. History shows over and over that in a debt crisis, everything is fine and then it’s not. The transitions happen fast.

Mauldin's view is there's a debt crisis headed our way, and I agree.  

What will trigger it?  Who knows, but it's coming, whether that trigger is another war, a recession, terrorist attacks, cyberattacks, a pandemic, or natural disasters, none of which is factored in the CBO's predictions, its coming.  All of which has triggered more taxes, spending, borrowing, 

He says this time it won't be different.  I disagree, it will come, it will cause havoc, but there are solutions that are viable, and available.

Many years ago I was invited to a meeting where the Chairman of the Budget Committee, I don't remember if he was in the House or Senate, and the Speaker of the House, were attending and speaking.  I pointed out there were five public employee retirement plans and when Strickland was Governor here in Ohio they were $60 million dollars underfunded.  I asked are they still underfunded, and if so by how much.  

The man gave us a dissertation on the budget process, and it was impressive; he really did understand how that all worked.  But he never answered the question I asked, and I pointed that out.  Finally he said it was still underfunded and he didn't know by how much.  It's amazing how many questions these politicians can answer no one asked, and how many questions asked they won't answer.....unless you insist on an answer.

There's one question I've yet to see asked of all these politicians running for office: What do you plan do to fix the national debt?  I would love to see someone really hold all their feet to the fire and refuse to accept the red herrings and diversions they all spew out.

• The Inevitability of a U.S. Government Default

Since they're clearly clueless, and/or gutless, it apparently it will take the bug man to give them the answer, starting with these two foundational truths.  Culture is king, and history is everything!

Let’s start with the cost of regulations, because they will amount to the same thing to business and the consumers, higher costs.  In 2013 it was estimated that it would cost the American consumer 1.75 trillion dollars to pay for the regulations imposed by the federal government.  According to the National Association of Manufacturers, that cost has soared to $3.079 trillion. 

Although that number is disputed because of the way in which that figure was computed, it has to be recognized that its massive and we know its growing.  And its the consumer who pays those costs, because as businesses costs go up prices go up.  At least until the costs get so high that they go out of business because the consumer can no longer afford it.   

Up until 1911 the goal of the federal government was to get federal lands into the hands of private individuals in order for that land to be settled, developed and generate capital, which is why there's very little federally owned property east of the Mississippi River.  However, after the Teddy Roosevelt era of conservation that all changed. 

Here are some realities based on 2013 figures.  The federal government owns almost 25% of all the land mass in the United States, and most of that is west of the Mississippi River.  In Alaska the federal government owns 225,848,164 acres, 61.79 percent of Alaska's total land, while Nevada is virtually a property of the federal government owing over 80% of the state. 

That land should have been turned over to the states after they were no longer territories, and it’s time the states demanded it. That would get rid of these tyrannical agencies that rule over those lands like petty dictators. There are vast amounts of natural resources tied up in these lands all of which these leftist nitwits are controlling, and preventing from being used. It's Time to Sell Federal Properties, all of which would pay off the national debt, return the money stolen from SSI, fund medicare, and fully fund the nation's defense. 

As of 2013, offshore, the federal government owned some 1.76 billion acres of lands and mineral estate, extending out 200 nautical miles from our shores.  The federal government’s total mineral estate holdings are therefore about 2.515 billion acres of lands.  Thus, the federal government’s mineral estate land holdings surpass the total surface land area of the nation of Canada.

It's time to start liquidating a lot of federal properties, because the total dollars involved is massive. The total worth to the economy of fossil fuels on federal lands of $150.5 trillion, and based on 2013 figures that was over 9 times our national debt.

Federal real property totals over 900,000 assets with a combined area of over 3 billion square feet and more than 41 million acres of land.  In fiscal year 2009, federal agencies reported 45,190 underutilized buildings, an increase of 1,830 underutilized buildings from the previous fiscal year. In fiscal year 2009, these underutilized buildings accounted for $1.66 billion in annual operating costs.

Stop borrowing, and stop spending, and do it now! Not spread out over time, as that can and will be curtailed by some future Congress, and do it massively!!!!! 

 

Where to start?  Start with eliminating the number of federal employees, massively, all of whom are making more than those in the private sector.  Eliminate 80% of the 438 agencies and sub-agencies of the federal government, and do that by "massively" cutting their funding in the budget, and that's a good start.  

 

Remember, culture is king, and when you read what economists say they're not really talking to you. They're talking to their peers, and most of them will not say anything that will get them kicked out of their peer group, i.e., their culture.   I like John, but he's still one of them, just a little better than the rest, but, as you read his solutions, he's still a tax raiser.  Those were his Thoughts From the Frontline.  These are my Thoughts From the Back Row; he's still not a coal miner and a farmer.  

 

Fix the Budget: We're Almost Out of Time

By Rich Kozlovich

I'm going to start with something I've been saying for years.  My grandfather was one of the world's great economists.  He said if you spend more than you make, you'll go broke.  What did he do for a living? He was a coal miner and a farmer.  Economics isn't all that difficult, unless you're an economist.

Every Saturday I receive John Mauldin's free newsletter dealing with economics called Thoughts From the Frontline.  I recommend subscribing.  As I've said in the past, I like his analysis, even when I'm in disagreement, I like his offerings because it's not presented in arcane verbiage.  The problem all these professional economists have is they all are part and parcel of a culture, and as Herodotus noted, culture is king, and it's difficult for them to see or think entirely outside the box of their culture.

Economics and economists make my eyes roll up into my head.  Statistics has often been called an 'arcane' science.  I'm a firm believe economics and statistics share that definition.  Both can turn reality into a pits of doom, or paradise, depending on which side of the street they're walking on.  Most importantly, depending on who's it is paying for their analysis and predictions, and if ever there was evidence of that, listen to the Biden administration talking heads, who claim "your" bad attitude is the only thing wrong with the economy.  Otherwise, according to them, everything is just as rosy as can be. 

In his December 8, 2023, Thoughts From the Frontline, Fair Shares of Debt piece today Mauldin John he breaks down just who it is who actually is paying all the federal taxes in America, and he starts with this old saw:

Don’t Tax You. Don’t Tax Me. Tax That Fellow Behind the Tree - Attributed to Senator Russell B. Long, Louisiana ~1930s

He follows that up with this statement, which I think is right on:

One thing you learn when writing about the debt problem, as I have been in recent weeks, is that many people think it’s not a problem at all. They believe we could easily balance the budget by .........(insert simplistic idea here)..............In my October 27 Debt Catharsis letter, I talked about the difficulty of balancing the federal budget with only spending cuts or only tax increases. Those paths are closed now. That’s one consequence of waiting too long; the available options grow narrower and more difficult.

 

I agree the actions of Congress and the Administration have been so extreme, they've destroyed some "paths" to fix this creating fewer options which will be "narrower and more difficult."  

 

I'll tell you what, we'll come back to that, but in the meantime, let's look at what's being presented as the "go to" solutions, starting with taxing the rich, and making them pay their fair share!  According to the IRS the bottom fifty percent only pay 9% of all federal taxes.  

 

In this year (which is typical), the top 1% of taxpayers collectively earned 22% of the total adjusted gross income and paid 42% of the total taxes. The next 4% had 16% of AGI and paid 20% of the taxes. Below that, tax paid is proportionately the same or less than earnings.......For those who think the wealthy should pay more, I invite you to get specific. Should the top 10% of taxpayers bear 80% of the tax burden? 90%? 100%? If the current 73% isn’t fair, what would be?.....

As things are going right now, the national debt is allegedly at $32 trillion, which is projected to be $52 trillion by 2033.  But those a false figures, as it 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 of debt, including borrowed many and government obligations, is in the 120 trillion dollar range, right now!  Is that true?  I have no idea, and truthfully, the numbers are so massive, I don't think anyone knows for sure.  

 

What we do know is it's massive, and growing so rapidly taxes alone will not fix it.  We're taking in over 4 trillion dollars a year and spending almost six trillion dollars.  Where does the money come from?  Printing presses.  The fact is more taxes would make it worse as more taxes will have a negative effect on the economy.  That's especially true for the VAX taxers, all of which he states.  He goes on to cite CRFB, claiming they're:

 

"about as dedicated to fiscal rectitude as any organization in Washington. Its bipartisan board includes names like Erskine Bowles, John Kasich, Alan Simpson, and David Stockman. This is a serious group that knows the stakes. Yet earlier this year, CRFB published what I can only call a note of frustration."....

 

But as I read their suggestions, it's clear what they support is nothing more than schemes to kick the can down the road, and having John Kasich on their board is in no way reassuring.  I've met him and find him to be weird and arrogant beyond belief, and his idea of conservatism is almost as far left as any Democrat in Congress.  

 

When he was the Chairman of the Budget Committee in Congress he was responsible for balancing the budget.  How did he do that?  Higher revenue from new taxes passed by Bill Clinton.  It wasn't done by massive spending cuts, and in fact spending went up.  When he was governor of Ohio, while claiming he cut taxes, what he did was shift those taxes he cut from one group and put the burden on another, Ohio businesses.  All smoke and mirrors. 

There is one solution, and one solution only.  Stop borrowing, and stop spending, and do it now! Not spread out over time, as that can and will be curtailed by some future Congress, and do it massively!!!!! 

 

Where to start?  Start with eliminating the number of federal employees, massively, all of whom are making more than those in the private sector.  Eliminate 80% of the 438 agencies and sub-agencies of the federal government, and do that by "massively" cutting their funding in the budget.   

 

Remember, culture is king, and when you read what economists say they're not really talking to you. They're talking to their peers, and most of them will not say anything that will get them kicked out of their peer group, i.e., their culture.   I like John, but he's one of them, just a little better than the rest, but, he's still not a coal miner and a farmer.   

Tags:

• Here's What I Believe, What I Don't Believe, and The Fix
• How to Restore Republic After It's Fallen into Corruption
• What We Need is a Fix. Let's Start with Clarity
• Twelve Points of Light
• How to Fix Government
• Fixing the Federal Government
• Observations From the Back Row: Agents of Shadow

It's Time to Sell Federal Properties

 By Rich Kozlovich

For years I've touted the idea it's long overdue the federal government sell some (actually most) of the 150 trillion dollars in government assets to pay off the national debt.  And a great start would be by selling off all federal properties not being used directly by the federal government, which was the intent of the Founding Fathers.

Up until 1911 the goal of the federal government was to get federal lands into the hands of private individuals in order for that land to be settled, developed and generate capital, which is why there's very little federally owned property east of the Mississippi River.  However, after the Teddy Roosevelt era of conservation that all changed.  The federal government now owns almost 25% of all the property in America, and most of that is west of the Mississippi River.  In Alaska the federal government owns 225,848,164 acres, 61.79 percent of Alaska's total land, while Nevada is virtually a property of the federal government owing over 80% of the state.  

They claim all that's necessary in order to have the land properly utilized for a number of reasons, but no matter how high minded those reasons may sound, it's all a load of horsepucky.  The end result is the use of those lands are at the whim of bureaucrats, and their left wing masters.  And make no mistake, privately held lands are maintained by the owners better than any bureaucrat is capable of. 

Currently the Biden administration has determined it will now lease federal property currently being leased by ranchers and those drilling for oil to green misfits such as the Natural Resources Defense Council, Pew Charitable Trusts and Defenders of Wildlife.   Yet that's not enough.  It's never enough for these misfits, they're calling this arranging deck chairs on the Titanic. Why?  Because this isn't enough to prevent the world from burning up from global warming, and extinction of species of plants, animals, etc., both of which are blatantly fraudulent.  Global warming is the greatest scientific scam ever perpetrated on humanity, and there is no Sixth Mass Extinction.  All lies. 

But we must grasp this foundationally factual truth.  With these misfits no appeasement will ever enough.  They can never be appeased, so why bother trying to appease them, they demand capitulation, total capitulation.  They have no answers, and they have no questions that can be answered in any way they will find acceptable.  Their only solution is for humanity is misanthropic and is in fact nothing short of Green Paganism.

It's time the states rebelled and demanded the federal government sell that property, and with no limitations or caveats for it's use.  Now that would good use of federal property generating the cash necessary to pay off the national debt, refund the money the federal government has absconded from Social Security via non redeemable bonds, and even make Medicare solvent.

Wow, what a novel idea.  Paying off what we owe, and paying as we go.  Imagine that. 

Let Me Tell You About Sisyphus, and Our National Debt

By Rich Kozlovich

In Greek Mythology Sisyphus was the first King of Corinth, and was known for his cleverness, deviousness, and callous disregard for others, but worse yet, he really offended Zeus because he thought he was more clever than Zeus.  Imagine that. Now that's just unforgivable.  

But in no way was that all he did, he was guilty of committing a lot of crimes, so Hades published him in Tartarus by making him push a boulder up a hill, and then cast an enchantment that made it roll down as soon as he got to the top, and this was an eternal punishment.  Hence the term, Sisyphean Task.

Currently our national debt is over 30 trillion dollars, and no matter how much money the federal government takes in, it's never enough to pay all the bills so it keeps borrowing, and borrowing, and borrowing.  

Now, this isn't a new problem, it was decided in the past all this borrowing and debt wasn't a good thing, and in .....watch out now.....here in comes......in 1917 they created something called a national debt limit which would prevent the federal government from borrowing over a certain amount.  

If that was installed in 1917, how in the world did the debt get so high?  

Well, I'm sure everyone is shocked to hear they found ways around that limit, and in recent years they resolved this problem with something called the '"Gerhardt Rule," a parliamentary rule that deemed the debt ceiling raised when a budget was passed", which was really convenient.  But it was decided that was a bad thing, and when the Republicans took over and Gingrich became Speaker of the House in 1995 that rule was a done away with.  But just like Hades' enchantment that made the rock keep rolling back down hill, it was resurrected when the Democrats took over. 

It's claimed the debt limit has been raised: 

"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."

This has become our ultimate Sisyphean task, only this isn't mythology, it's reality, and this can't, and won't, keep going on eternally.  

It's time the Republican's did something they're not very good at.  Standing firm!  This is the time to force the Senate and the President to either make some massive cuts in spending, or shut down the government and be prepared to defend that position, and that position is defensible.  If they have the guts they can start by demanding the federal government liquidate some it's 150 trillion dollars in assets.  Otherwise, the national debt is the Sisyphean boulder that will keep rolling down the hill, eventually crushing all in it's path.