Category Archives: Debt and deficits

Don’t tell them what comes after trillion

tax, taxes, debt, deficits, spending, trillion, State of the Union, deficit hawks, balanced budget amendment, Jonathan Bydlak, immigration, $98.8 trillion, $970 billionBy Steve Brawner, © 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

While the nation’s attention was divided between President Trump’s back-and-forth with Democratic congresswomen and Robert Mueller’s upcoming testimony, negotiators this week crafted a deal that may “end up being the worst budget agreement in our nation’s history.”

That description came from Maya McGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

The agreement was reached by President Trump’s Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and it was announced by an enthusiastic Trump tweet.

The deal suspends the federal debt ceiling until July 31, 2021 – after next year’s election. Suspending the ceiling wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing under other circumstances; frankly, we probably need to ditch it permanently. It accomplishes no purpose other than creating periodic crises that rattle financial markets and make the United States look like it can’t get its act together.

The problem is the deal eliminates spending limits created in 2011 that actually did slow the national debt’s growth a little. Since those will be gone, we’ll spend an additional $320 billion over the next two years on both defense and non-defense expenditures – paid for by borrowing, as always. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget says the deal could add as much as $1.7 trillion to the national debt over a decade. Continue reading →

How Uncle Sam’s debt costs you money

By Steve Brawner

© 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

June 27, 2019

Those of us who preach against the national debt often warn of a coming economic calamity, which obviously is falling on deaf ears. Politicians aren’t inclined to address future problems occurring after the next election, and voters don’t punish them for it.

So let’s try a new approach: There’s a cost to the national debt, and you and I pay part of it.

That reality was reflected in a report released this week by the Congressional Budget Office, “The 2019 Long-Term Budget Outlook.”

Let’s cover some basic facts first. Continue reading →

Disasters happen. Let’s budget for them.

By Steve Brawner, © 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

June 4, 2019

Congress and the president are passing a $19.1 billion federal disaster package that has one glaring problem: As usual, we’re paying for it by credit card.

The bill passed the House Monday, 354-58, after passing the Senate last month, 85-8. It was headed to the president, who will sign it. It will be used to respond to recent natural disasters, including hurricanes, floods in the Midwest, and wildfires in California. It includes additional money for Puerto Ricans – American citizens, it should never be forgotten – who are still recovering from Hurricane Rita in 2017.

The package includes $3 billion for military bases and Coast Guard facilities, $3 billion for farmers, and spending that’s meant to reduce the effects of future disasters. It started out as a $7.8 billion package last year.

All six members of Arkansas’ congressional delegation voted yes, as most did. Members of Congress don’t like to vote against disaster funding because they know their state might be the next to need help. Arkansas’ turn surely is coming after this spring’s historic flooding. Continue reading →

Economy slowing but growing; debt just growing

By Steve Brawner,

© 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

May 21, 2019

No one can predict the future, and that includes economists. So I’m simply going to tell you what a really smart guy said, and you can do with it what you will.

The smart guy was Bob Costello, the American Trucking Associations’ chief economist. He was in Little Rock May 16 to speak to the Arkansas Trucking Association. I should tell you I do some freelance writing for publications produced by both associations.

That stuff out of the way, here’s what he said: The economy is “slowing, but we’re still growing.” Costello does not expect a recession until 2021 or later.

If he’s right – sorry, Democrats. You can still beat President Trump, but you’ll have to do so in the face of a decent economy. No one should hope for bad economic news as a way to win an election, anyway. But if you were, you wouldn’t be the first. Continue reading →

Surprise! Money did not grow on trees

tax, taxes, debt, deficits, spending, trillion, State of the Union, deficit hawks, balanced budget amendment, Jonathan Bydlak, immigration, $98.8 trillion, $970 billionBy Steve Brawner, © 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

There’s nothing more annoying than someone saying, “I told you so,” and it gives me no pleasure to do so. Well, maybe a little, but I’d much rather be wrong.

This bittersweet moment is inspired by March’s wholly foreseeable news that the federal government’s February budget deficit was the biggest ever for that month – $234 billion.

For the year, the Trump administration projects the deficit will be $1.09 trillion, a number last seen in 2012. (The Congressional Budget Office earlier projected $897 billion.) One trillion is about $3,300 for each of us, and it all will be added to the $22 trillion national debt. Your share of that amount is a little more than $67,000 – and growing by the minute.

In fact, the Trump administration projects $1 trillion deficits for each of the next four years, but even that may be a rosy scenario. Now that we’ve reached this plateau, there’s no plan to bring us down.

Last year’s deficit was $779 billion, which was bad enough. So how’d we get from there to here? Continue reading →