CAPTAIN OF THE TITANIC
If you owe $16,000 on your credit card you know exactly how much that is. You know what it takes to earn that much and what it will take to pay it off. However, when your government owes $16 trillion it’s beyond your ability to comprehend such an amount. You can’t understand it and neither can any of our political leaders. If we could understand all aspects of such an amount we would be fearful. It’s an amount that can never be paid back or controlled. It’s one of the main reasons the U.S. is in a state of permanent crisis.
For each of the past four years the government has run over $1 trillion in deficits. None of us can comprehend that amount either. Furthermore, if the government used generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) as does every business the annual deficit would be $5 trillion. If the politicians could comprehend this amount they would take every possible step to end it. But they can’t understand it and so they keep on spending, further aggravating the deficits. It’s the main reason the U.S. will not be able to save itself from monetary perdition.
Politicians talk about how they will cut the deficit. But that’s now become impossible. The costs of what the government spends its money on are running away. Healthcare costs are going through the roof. The promised cuts will not be forthcoming because the resistance to cuts is insurmountable. Look at the fuss over cutting $8 million given to Big Bird each year. The Muppets have $300 million in assets and $137 million in revenues and there’s an uproar over the suggestion to cut them. Look at the fight that government unions put up in Wisconsin over cuts in state spending.
Furthermore, people have come to rely on government programs to live comfortably. Attempts to take any of these benefits away border on cruelty. Once a social program has started it’s virtually impossible to end it because of the suffering it would cause.
Runaway government deficits are assured. This requires new money to pay the bills, which the Federal Reserve is busy providing. The end of these sorry practices is all too predictable. Ultimately, the currency must lose its value. That will cause no end of misery. We have two candidates for the Presidency who think they can cure this mess. They don’t comprehend $16 trillion in debt growing more than a trillion each year. Nobody can. In reality they are running to be captain of the Titanic.
