Spending at the Federal Level

OCTOBER 31, 2013

I heard on the radio this morning that the Federal Government will run a deficit under $1 Trillion Dollars this year for the first time since 2008. While this may sound like good news, I would label it as “not as bad” newsbecause our deficit is $680 Billion this year……$680 BILLION!……$680,000,000,000!

That may be 38% (approximately) less than last year’s $1.1 Trillion deficit, but that is still an enormous amount of money. Can you think of a way to spend $680 billion?  Can you think of a way to spend $680 BILLION over the roughly $2 trillion the United States annually receives in tax revenue?

Should Obama be praised for curbing spending? No, the last time the US had a deficit under $1 Trillion was 2008, Bush’s penultimate fiscal year in office. Should Bush be praised for being fiscally responsible? No, in 2008, we spent $2,982,500,000,000, which is $458.6 billion over the $2,524,000,000,000 we had in tax revenue that year.

For those who want to compare spending behaviors of Bush and Obama to say that one president is better than the other, look at these statistics:

BUSH:

-Added more than $6 Trillion to the US National Debt, more than doubling the $5.8 Trillion we were in debt at the end of Clinton’s final fiscal year.

-His deficits totalled $3.294 Trillion by the end of his final fiscal year

Obama:

-Added $4.8 Trillion to the national debt in just one term!

-Has racked up a total of $5.073 Trillion in deficits in just one term.

……but let’s not forget that government spending is controlled by Congress. Therefore, we can not only blame Presidents Bush and Obama (as well as every other president that spent more than tax revenues, but also every member of Congress (past or present) that has voted for these absurd levels of spending.

I’m honestly glad that our government has produced a budget in years. We have finally given up the façade of a government that manages their finances. A budget that spends billions over their revenue is no budget at all, but a sick a joke at transparency and responsibility.

When will we finally realize that drastic cuts have to be made across the board and that true sacrifice must be made to ensure fiscal prosperity. Those who say spending isn’t out of control are fools.

We can sit and blame the other party for this problem all we want, but the fact of the matter is both parties are to blame. I think Mark Twain said it best when he said “Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason.”

Another thought before I close: Why do (or rather did) we budget on the basis of dollar amounts? Why not percentages? For example, if the US had $X to spend in a given fiscal year, we could spend Y% of $X on Social Security, Z% on debt reduction, A% on national security, B% on the Military, and 0% on education (the Federal government has no Constitutional authority or duty with respect to education).

Sources:

KELO: AM 1320 AM, FM 107.9

http://useconomy.about.com/od/usdebtanddeficit/p/US-Debt-by-President.htm

http://useconomy.about.com/od/people/fl/Deficit-by-President.htm

http://money.cnn.com/2013/10/30/news/economy/deficit-2013-treasury/

http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts/displayafact.cfm?Docid=200