An interesting thing happened on the way to the debt ceiling of $16.4 trillion. I love to go to this Treasury website that lets you see our National Debt by day.
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/NPGateway
You’ve heard the MSM pundits talk about the deficit for last year as $1.1 trillion or they even sometimes round it off to $1 trillion. One little problemo. The National Debt went up by $1.4 trillion. What’s $300 or $400 billion among friends?
The fascinating dynamic that could be seen on this website is that the National Debt went up by $1.322 trillion in the first 11 months of the fiscal year – an average of $120 billion per month. Then in the month before the Presidential election it ONLY went up by $62 billion. Obama must have miraculously cut spending. Finally some fiscal sanity.
But noooooo. November arrived and presto, as soon as the election was secured, the National Debt surged by $148 billion in November. As of 12/3/12 the National Debt stands at $16.338 trillion. That is only $62 billion away from the dreaded ceiling. The Federal Government cannot go above that level by law.
At the current rate, we will hit the debt ceiling in exactly 14 days. That would be December 19. Congress adjourns on December 18. Obama leaves for his vacation on December 17. The world is supposed to end on December 21.
The fiscal cliff and debt ceiling will need to be resolved in the next two weeks or all hell will break loose. I’m starting to believe Barack Obama is playing the Republicans and the American people for fools. He thinks the people will blame the Republicans if all hell breaks loose, the economy implodes and the stock market crashes. He is probably right. He is not going to compromise. The Republicans can either rollover or they can call Obama’s bluff.
I’m hoping these two parties play their game of chicken and neither swerves. Maybe the interesting portion of this Fourth Turning can get going.
Steve Hogan says:
And this ignores the unfunded liabilities, which dwarf the funded portion.
If a CEO failed to report his company’s unfunded pension liabilities, he’d be prosecuted. I guess when you have the power to make the rules, as our government “servants” do, you have the power to break them (or ignore them).
Time to purchase some more silver….
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5th December 2012 at 5:50 pm
Stucky says:
Just keep doing this, and all will be fine ……… until you can’t, and then it won’t.
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5th December 2012 at 5:53 pm
Llpoh says:
Bring on the cliff!
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5th December 2012 at 6:07 pm
Craig says:
Take the debt ceiling chart and put a chart for the same period with the price of gold on top the debt ceiling chart.
Presto!
Keep stacking.
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5th December 2012 at 6:08 pm
card802 says:
I know it won’t happen, but I agree, I wish both sides would remain firm and go over this fucking cliff. Republicans will roll over and take it in the ass, hard. They are pinched. They know if they don’t agree with Obama they will be blamed and lose votes, funny thing is they will lose votes anyway, they are just gambling that Americans will have short memories come 2014 election time, and that Obama will make nice, so the damage to the “party” wont be as extensive.
We’re going to have to jump sooner or later, lets do it, we can all hold hands and go off that cliff together. Or at the very least this may fuck up Mooshells Hawaiian vacation.
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5th December 2012 at 6:09 pm
DaveL says:
“The world is supposed to end on December 21.”
Well hell, then why worry? I won’t even have to buy Christmas presents.
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5th December 2012 at 6:13 pm
card802 says:
What Gary Johnson has to say:
“Here is how the charade is playing out: President Obama is demanding that the so-called Bush tax cuts be allowed to expire for what he calls the wealthy to produce $800 billion in more “revenue” for the government. In what only a politician could call a negotiation, the Republican Speaker of the House has countered with an offer to – you guessed it – raise revenues (taxes) by $800 billion.
If this wasn’t so serious, it would be laughable.
The only difference between the two “sides” is what they want to call their plan for the government to suck almost another trillion dollars out of the private economy to finance their wars, their take-over of our health care, and the never-ending erosions of our freedom.
Obama wants to call this money-grab a “rate increase” for the wealthy. Speaker Boehner wants to call it “closing loopholes”. I’m not seeing the difference. The money all ends up coming from the same place.”
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5th December 2012 at 6:28 pm
Davos says:
$16 trillion Social Security.
$84 trillion Medicare.
$21 trillion Prescription Drugs.
In a nutshell: Government spending breaks out into 3 key areas, we take in enough to cover mandatory spending (every type of social wellfare you can dream of) and interest on the debt. If the shitheads cut that we’ll have a depression within a depression until the old farts die of hunger.
Here’s the 4th grade math:
TOTAL SPENDING $3.603 trillion
2011 Federal Government’s spending: $3,603,000,000,000.00 (3.603 trillion)
There are a million “millions” in a trillion or 1,000 millions in a billion and 1,000 billions in a trillion. If you spent 1 million a day since 1AD you’d have not spent a trillion.
MANDATORY SPENDING $2.073 Trillion FY2011
Entitlements:
Social Security…………………………………………………………………………$726 billion
Medicare……………………………………………………………………………………$480 billion
Medicaid……………………………………………………………………………………$275 billion
TARP & Other mandatory programs…………………………………….$631 billion
Total………………………………………………………………………………………….$2.07 trillion
2011 Other Mandatory Spending includes: Food Stamps (47 million recipients) Unemployment Benefits (22.8% unemployment rate), Child Nutrition Student Loans, Disability and Tax Credits.
INTEREST ON FEDERAL DEBT $230 billion
Interest:…………………………………………………………………………………..$230 billion
DISCRETIONARY SPENDING $1.3 trillion
Must be approved by Congress each year, breaks out into 2 key areas: Security related Military Foreign Aid, Veteran Services and non-security related (What we think of when we think of the government, Agriculture, Commerce, Education, Justice, State, Energy Treasury, Interior, Transportation, HHS, HUD, etc.)
Security:…………………………………………………………………………………..$700 billion
Nonsecurity……………………………………………………………………………..$462 billion
Total……………………………………………………………………………………….$1.3 trillion
GOVERNMENT INCOME TOTAL RECEIPTS $2.303 Trillion
Income (Government Revenues): $2,303,000,000,000.00 (2.303 trillion)
Mandatory Programs……………………………………………………………….$2.073 trillion
Interest……………………………………………………………………………………….$ 230 billion
Discretionary Spending…………………………………………………………..$1.300 trillion
Total……………………………………………………………………………………………$3.603 trillion
Government “Balance” Sheet
Income………………………………………………………………………………………..$2.303 trillion
Total Spending………………………………………………………………………….$3.603 trillion
DEFICIT………………………………………………………………………………………$1.300 trillion
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5th December 2012 at 6:47 pm
AWD says:
Boner is purging the Republican leadership (at least the one’s that might compromise with Obama). It’s going over the cliff, obviously. Obama want it, so Republicans will be swept out of the house and senate in the next election (and return total democratic control/dictatorship).
Trigger derivatives meltdown, stock market crash, president raising debt ceiling by decree, and not a vote or any debate, and maybe December 21 will be the beginning of the end…
Night Of The Long Knives: ‘Fake’ Conservative John Boehner Purges The GOP
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 12/05/2012
On Monday, the Republican Steering Committee, which is chaired by House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), voted to remove Reps. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) and Tim Huelskamp (R-Kansas) from the House Budget Commtitee. Reps. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.) and Walter Jones (R-N.C.) lost their positions on the Financial Services Committee.
The four members are known for occasionally bucking leadership and voting against Boehner’s wishes. Amash, Huelskamp and Schweikert are popular with the conservative movement, while Jones has made a name for himself by speaking out against U.S. involvement in Afghanistan.
Reuters notes that removing Amash and Huelskamp from the Budget Committee “could make it easier for the panel to advance a deal with Democrats to cut fiscal deficits” — which is exactly what many conservative groups are afraid of.
Huelskamp unloaded on GOP leadership Tuesday at a Heritage Foundation event in Washington, saying, “We were not notified about what might occur but it confirms in my mind the deepest suspicions that most Americans have about Washington D.C: it’s petty, it’s vindictive, and if you have conservative principles you will be punished.”
“It’s a slap in the face to all young people who are thinking about being Republicans, want to be a part of this party, and are being told, ‘Well, if you disagree with leadership just a couple times we’re going to send you home … you don’t get to participate,’” he said.
Jones said he hasn’t yet spoken to Boehner. In fact, he only found out he lost his spot on the committee when his staff read it on the internet”
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5th December 2012 at 7:14 pm
DaveL says:
Davos says: “DEFICIT………$1.300 trillion.”
That’s one year, but somehow those lame fucks think that getting an additional 80 billion a year out of rich pricks is the solution to the deficit. Go for it.
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5th December 2012 at 9:24 pm
Celtic Tiger says:
AWD, my reading of the “Long Knives” article is that Boehner is purging the Tea Party conservatives who will fight against compromise with Obama. The Republicans will cave.
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5th December 2012 at 9:44 am
Muck About says:
I don’t know whether the Reepers will “cave in” or not. Nor do I care. Either “solution” to the “debt crises” will be exactly the wrong thing to do. I don’t know how beat up the “can” is, but I don’t think it will take much more kicking and that’s all the idiots are doing.
A common saying in productive business: There are hundreds of ways to do anything right. There is one way to do it wrong. (The wrong way is way that it doesn’t work).
Goobermint has managed to turn that saying on its’ head with thousands of ways to screw everything up and one way to do it right – which, of course, they will not do…
Pizzzz on all of them.
MA
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5th December 2012 at 11:01 am
Imaginarium says:
Guess we’ll hit the ceiling then go over the cliff. . .
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5th December 2012 at 11:20 am
Kill Bill says:
What about the future? If we tax at historical levels, 18.3 percent of GDP, which is the green line, and if we do not reform government, this is what the future will look like: the fastest growing expense will be interest on the Federal debt; the second fastest growing Federal expense will be out‑of‑control healthcare costs, which are still out of control despite the latest healthcare bill. And they are eating everybody’s lunch, including the Defense Department’s -David M. Walker, Head of CBO, 2010
http://www.ndu.edu/press/lib/pdf/books/economic-security.pdf
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5th December 2012 at 9:43 pm
Kill Bill says:
The world is supposed to end on December 21. -admin
No. That is the fourth of five ‘endings’ of the Mayan calendar. It goes on for thousands of years after this date. IE precession. A cycle of some 26k years.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precession#Astronomy
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5th December 2012 at 9:53 pm