How to address our growing national debt

Received this via a Mike Huckabee newsletter.

It was barely noticed, but on Friday, the US national debt topped $20 trillion for the first time. The timing was really just a technicality: President Trump signed the deal to raise the artificially-imposed debt ceiling, and the debt jumped $300 billion in one day. The next debate will be over Trump’s proposal to do away with the debt limit altogether. Trump and other critics think it’s just an illusion and a distraction: the periodic fights over raising it spook markets and give Democrats and the media a club to bash Republicans with, and then Congress always votes to raise it anyway. But many Republicans want to keep the debt limit because they see it as the only brake on runaway federal spending.

They’re wrong, of course. If it were a brake on federal spending, we wouldn’t have a $20 trillion debt. If your car had brakes like that, you’d be dead already. There is only one brake on federal spending, and that’s to place Congress’ budgeting power into the hands of people who have the guts to make politically-painful choices, impose spending priorities, reform the tax code and reduce regulations to boost growth and therefore, tax revenue. Voters thought they’d already done that, but unfortunately, it appears they were misled.​

Do you agree or disagree with what Governor Huckabee says here? I agree, and I hope we're able to get our financial house in order. Anyway, please discuss your views.

 

I very rarely agree with Huckabee but in this case I do. The debt limit needs to go or Congress needs to actually try to balance the budget and stop the need to keep raising it.

 

I agree with Huckabee. We should replace reps with people that keep their word to limit debt, or even REDUCE the debt. Unfortunately, many programs needed to be addressed before tax reform and debt limits. The House has been divided on those issues as well and so we are still obligated to spend money on Obamacare and other programs that haven't been resolved yet.

Let's make no mistake, the real problem is the democrat party marching in lock-step with each other as though they've been winning every election since 2010, but reality is they've been losing elections since 2010. That shows how ideologically tied together they are, while Republicans are not ideologically tied together. If dems were doing what their constituents wanted them to do, then at minimum they would have worked with Rs on Obamacare.

Under normal circumstances, the national debt doesn't make a lot of difference. In fact, it can be used as an economic tool. However, 20 Trillion debt is actually putting the U.S. government in a bad position of being a debtor to other countries such as Japan and China. Trump doesn't have much leverage against China when they hold a trillion or so of our debt.

Steve

 

Debt Tops $20 Trillion for First Time; Jumps $317,645,000,000 in 1 Day...

It's Official: Debt Tops $20 Trillion for First Time; Jumps $317,645,000,000 in 1 Day
September 11, 2017 | The federal debt officially surpassed $20 trillion for the first time on Friday, as the debt subject to the legal limit set by Congress jumped $317,645,000,000 in one day--following President Donald Trump's signing of a spending-and-debt-limit deal that will fund the government through Dec. 8.

See also:

McCain: 'We Have Got to Spend More Money on Defense'
September 11, 2017 | John McCain was one of 17 Senate Republicans to vote against a hurricane relief bill that included a short-term debt-limit extension as well as a continuing resolution to keep the government funded at current levels for the next three months.

Related:

Record 73.3% of School Lunches Served in FY16 Were Free or Reduced Price
September 12, 2017 Of the 5,052,222,946 school lunches served in Fiscal Year 2016, 73.3 percent of them -- the highest percentage on record -- were either free or reduced price meals, according to data posted on September 8, 2017 by the Agriculture Department's Food and Nutrition Service.

 

Very simple cut spending. No foreign aid. No money what so ever to criminal aliens that shouldnt be here. Dump at least 3 government agencies starting with the Dept of Ed.

 

In addition to what I wrote above, Walky's post reminded me of how bureaucrats often deal with budget cuts.

Locally, in my experience constituents were requested by the city to raise property taxes back in the 1980s, but the voters voted it down. About a month later, I had to renew my auto license plate back before they had online renewals. So I expected the usual long line of people but I didn't expect 100s of people standing in line that day. When I finally got to the renewal window, there was only ONE CLERK performing the task while others sat quietly at their desk twiddling their thumbs, pushing papers around like they were busy. It was a form of protest to slow down the work that the voters would experience first hand.

That happens often at local levels, but when Obama's government was shutdown in budget negotiations, Obama pulled the same stunt on the American people. Then the media piled on interviewing angry war vets on tour of open air memorials which didn't require ANY gov employees, but they placed barriers around memorials just to anger the vets. And as usual, republicans were blamed for it, in the media. A case could be made that it is extortion, "give us more money or else . . ."

Steve

 

I agree that we need to spend more money for defense

But less money on welfare

Much less

School lunches for children is ok provided we cut the family off from food stamps

But no able bodied citizen should receive welfare whether they have children or not

 

I totally agree. But the thing that never seems to be discussed is government waste in ALL of the government's departments. I'm sure the Defense Dept has a lot of waste that can be cut without hurting our ability to defend ourselves, but as I mentioned above, bureaucrats like to make cuts that voters can experience first-hand, like extortion. And that's a whole different ballpark.

I was hoping with Trump's business background he would make cuts based upon specific wasteful spending cuts.

Steve

 

Yup! no Free money to people on Social Security who shouldn't be collecting it, No! Freebies to homeless people, No Freebies to drug addicts, No additional spending on defence and we need to raise taxes on EVERYONE TO PAY FOR IT. I think back when the National Debt was a paultry $5 Trillion in the year 2000 and Clinton handed GW Bush a 10 year $5.3 Trillion Surplus according to the CBO. That meant that if everything was kept on track, the National Debt could have been ZERO in the year 2010, but NO! GW blew through that surplus like a hot knife through butter and never looked back and now it's over $20 Trillion, Jeez! what could have been, but everyone needs to realize that a baby born today is not going to see this Debt paid off in its lifetime, it's so HUGE now that it will take hundreds of years maybe thousands to pay off if we start getting serious about it today. It might as well be a $ 100 GAZILLION dollars, it's so big Americans can't even comprehend the Hugeness of it. There are a 20 THOUSAND Billions in $20 Trillion. Try doing the math, $1 billion is a thousand times a $1 million and $1 Trillion is a thousand times $1 billion, so $ 1 Trillion is a 1 MILLION X 1 MILLION and then multiply that by 20. Good grief if you had pallets of $1 million bundles in a Warehouse, there'd be like 2 million of those pallets in there to make $20 Trillion, not sure if that's right, but I think it would be something like that. Anyways! that National Debt ain't going away for a LONG! time.

 

There is a lot of waste in the defense dept

Good generals are warriors not bean counters

National defense is so important that I think we have to live with the waste

But a truely independent Inspector General who is not part of the chain of command and appointed by the president directly could force the generals to save money inspite of themselves

 

Of course it's easy to agree with Gov Huckabee. Our problem is the people with solutions to our national debt are not in congress. Those in congress lack the will or grit to take on the debt. They want their power and the status quo and then they move on to retirement. They will tell you how complicated it is and talk to you in circles. Come on, it's just basic math. Many people outside congress have solutions to pay down the national debt. The average truck driver, teacher, policeman, secretary, CEO, college student, engineer, doctor, can give us a plan that would work. I like the simple plan that radio/TV host Sean Hannity has outlined.

 

The debt limit does not control how much debt the US can have. It limits the level of debt the US *will make interest payments on*.

If you want to see the dollar be utterly destroyed overnight, then don't raise the debt ceiling.

 

You realize most people who are on welfare and food stamps do work, right?

So you want children to only eat while they are at school?

 

Yes

Many welfare moms work so that they can qualify for the (un)Earned Income Tax Credit where they get more money back in January than they paid in

If we end the food stamp program for adults the left will inevitably cry "What about the children!"

Feediing the kids 3 meals a day at school keeps money out of the hands of their welfare bum parents

The child eats and mom has to go find a job if she wants to eat

 

Every year we have this same argument ...

... and then there are the Facts.

http://www.justharvest.org/advocacy/the-truth-about-snap-food-stamps/
http://mashable.com/2015/07/27/welfare-myths-debunked/#VfgINAH3YZqE
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/28/food-stamp-demographics_n_6771938.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-working-class-whites/?utm_term=.c0087581f3bb


There's so much information that squashes the Bull **** that you have to blind, deaf, dumb or just stupid to not be able to see the truth.

 

Kids don't get three meals at school. They get lunch, and if they are lucky enough to arrive early, they might get breakfast.

Unless you are saying you want schools to keep kids for 3 to 4 extra hours a day for dinner. Are you cool with the increase in teacher salaries that will entail?

 

All your leftwing spin notwithstanding - with a race card thrown in for good measure - food stamps enable welfare bums to eat without having to work for it and that is bad for America

 

It would be better if they just starved, right?

Most people on food stamps ALREADY WORK.

 

Not at all schools

But it is a growing trend that would enable a cutoff of food stamps to most people that would force welfare bums to work for their food

 

They don't have to starve

They can get jobs instead

 

Sure, whatever ,,,, have a nice day.

 

Welfare "bums" already work.

 

They already have jobs.

 

Bitter and Angry is how they live their lives ... and I couldn't care any less.

Good for them ...