Posted by Sir Four at 1:40pm Jul 14 '11In early August the US federal government will no longer have enough money to pay for all its commitments, and will not be allowed to borrow more. This will result in the immediate need to eliminate 44% of federal spending (source).
I believe this to be a pretty accurate break-down of federal spending (source: Wikipedia):
There is no way to eliminate 44% of this pie chart without hitting things that Americans generally consider very important. Consider:
Interest on the debt + Social Security + Medicare + military = 56%
If those are 100% protected, there is literally nothing left for anything else. No VA hospitals, no federal employee pay, no federal court system, no tax refunds, no corps of engineers, no WIC, no unemployement checks, no Medicaid, nothing.
But I don't believe most Americans see the seriousness here. Conservatives gleefully cite polls showing a majority of Americans are against raising the debt ceiling. People have an unrealistic impression of what foreign aid, earmarks, and NPR cost, and seem to believe that cutting such things would balance the budget. This is clearly not the case. And this is precisely why balancing the budget is so difficult. You've got to make really hard choices, and the House GOP is punting on them. Rather than provide means of funding the very legislation that Congress itself enacted, they choose to toss the problem into Obama's lap and say, "you figure it out." This is a government in a state of complete dysfunction.
I believe this to be a pretty accurate break-down of federal spending (source: Wikipedia):
There is no way to eliminate 44% of this pie chart without hitting things that Americans generally consider very important. Consider:
Interest on the debt + Social Security + Medicare + military = 56%
If those are 100% protected, there is literally nothing left for anything else. No VA hospitals, no federal employee pay, no federal court system, no tax refunds, no corps of engineers, no WIC, no unemployement checks, no Medicaid, nothing.
But I don't believe most Americans see the seriousness here. Conservatives gleefully cite polls showing a majority of Americans are against raising the debt ceiling. People have an unrealistic impression of what foreign aid, earmarks, and NPR cost, and seem to believe that cutting such things would balance the budget. This is clearly not the case. And this is precisely why balancing the budget is so difficult. You've got to make really hard choices, and the House GOP is punting on them. Rather than provide means of funding the very legislation that Congress itself enacted, they choose to toss the problem into Obama's lap and say, "you figure it out." This is a government in a state of complete dysfunction.
Day of Reckoning on Debt Ceiling Approaches - Sir Four