WE’RE DROWNING IN A SEA OF DEBT…

Well it would seem that the federal government, in its infinite wisdom, is picking up in this new fiscal year exactly where it left off in the old one, by working to increase our already massive national debt. We begin FY-2015 by setting yet another new record for inflation-adjusted tax revenue, while at the same time running a deficit of $121.7 Billion, or an amount that equates to $1050.78 for every household here in these United States.

Now stop and think about this for a second, for each and every $1.00 that the Treasury brought in during the month of October the federal government turned right around and spent $1.57. Now what do you think would happen to you, and very short order, if that was the way that you chose to operate your own household budget. Especially since you do not enjoy the same luxury that Barry does, that of being able to print and endless supply of your own money.

So essentially what we have here is the continuation of what has become a very disturbing little trend here going all the way back to when it was that our current president was first election. Granted, the government has always, or nearly always, had the nasty habit of spending more than it has taken in, but never to the extent that has taken place during the presidency of one Barry "Almighty". And we’re still stuck with this guy for another two years.

During FY-2014, which ended on Sept. 30, the federal government took in the record amount of $3,020,809,000,000 in revenue but still ran a deficit of $483,336,000,000. In October, the first month of fiscal year 2015, total federal revenues were $212,719,000,000, according to data released by the Treasury. But federal spending was 334,432,000,000 for the month, which created a deficit of $121,713,000,000.

There are, today, 115,831,000 households in the United States. The federal government’s $121,713,000,000 deficit for the month equals $1,050.78 per each of those households. In constant 2014 dollars, the $212,719,000,000 in tax receipts the federal Treasury raked in during October is the most revenue ever for that month of the year. The next closest year was 2001. That October, the Treasury took in $211,234,700,000 in constant 2014 dollars.

The biggest source of federal tax revenue during the month of October came in the form of the individual income tax. During the month, taxpayers forked over an economy-stifling amount of $106,661,000,000 in these taxes to the Treasury. But that’s not all, taxpayers were also made to hand over another $73,581,000,000 in the form of payroll taxes covering the cost of Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment insurance.

Now while it would be welcome news to hear that our freshly minted Republican congressional majority plans to take the necessary measures to get things under control, I’d be considered as being pretty naïve if I were say that I actually believed they will grab the bull by the horns and reel in our out of control Executive Branch. Our ‘leaders’ have already said they’ll do nothing that might result in a government shut down, so what else is really left?

These are perilous times that we now find ourselves in. And as they say, dangerous times call for dangerous measures. And in this case we’re talking about measures that could prove ‘politically’ dangerous. And because they’re ‘politically’ dangerous, the chances that they will be undertaken are pretty remote. So therefore we will likely continue on our present course while, at the same time, being inundated by all manner of rhetoric until the end finally comes.

OUR NATIONAL DEBT, WHAT ARE WE DOING TO OUR KIDS???

What might also come to play a role in how this November’s midterms turn out, or at least it should if enough of the American people are paying the slightest bit of attention, might be the fact that as of last Friday, the total debt of the federal government is now nearly $18 Trillion, coming it at $17,858,480,029,490.28. That was equal to $200,258.81 for each of the 89,177,000 full-time ‘private-sector’ workers that were in the United States in 2013.

Federal debt per full-time ‘private-sector’ worker has escalated, and escalated very rapidly. For example, at the end of 2007, the total federal debt was $9,229,172,659,218.31, which equaled $101,158.25 for each of the 91,235,000 full-time ‘private-sector’ workers in the United States that year. In 2000, the total federal debt was $5,662,216,013,697.37, which equaled $66,553.23 for each of the 85,078,000 full-time private-sector workers that year.

So as a way of putting this whole debt thing into perspective, regarding the crushing burden future generations will be made to bare, let’s use as our example the cost of attending one of our four-year private colleges. Because the sad reality is that, on average, going to a four-year private college, and borrowing every single penny of the cost, would actually impose much less of a burden on this year's college freshman than will the weight of our national debt place upon them once they become full-time private-sector workers.

Because upon graduating these enterprising young college grads, at least those fortunate enough to find full-time private-sector employment after leaving college behind them, the covering of the cost of their four years in college will actually place less of a burden on them than will covering the cost of the federal deficit spending that has taken place, per every full-time private-sector worker, before that young person ever stepped foot onto his or her college campus.

Now it’s according to the College Board that the full price for tuition, fees, room and board at a four-year private college in the 2013-2014 school year averaged $40,917. At that rate, a student who went to a private college for four years would spend, an average, about $163,668 for their education, if they paid full fare. Thus, the current federal debt per full-time private-sector worker of $200,258.81 exceeds the average four-year cost at a private college by about $36,591.

When this year's college freshmen graduate and, hopefully are able to get jobs, quite likely the biggest personal expense that they will come to face is the buying of a home. So which will be greater: the federal debt per full-time private-sector worker, or buying an existing single-family home? In the short run, it may be a close call. In 2013, the median price on an existing single-family home was $197,400, according to the National Association of Realtors.

In January, it was $187,900. But by August, the latest month for which figures are available, it had risen to $220,600. But single-family homes were less expensive in August in the South and Midwest, where the median prices were $192,000 and $175,000, respectively. Still, a person putting a 10-percent down payment of $22,060 on a single-family home at the median August price of $220,600 would end up with a mortgage of $198,540.

That $198,540 mortgage is less than the $200,258.81 in current federal debt per full-time private-sector worker. Americans who invest in a college education or a single-family home are not only buying a solid asset that will serve them well for the rest of their lives; they are investing in what we used to consider the American dream. But it’s that same American dream that has now been "fundamentally transformed" into less of a dream and more of a nightmare.

Because at the end of the day, Americans who get up every morning and go to work, and do it week after week after week, and are forced to pay progressively higher taxes to maintain a federal welfare state that is driving our national debt to an unsustainable level are being forced to subsidize a system that is accomplishing nothing more than to kill the American dream. And unless we make some radical changes, and soon, things are only going to get worse.

WE MUST STOP THE MADNESS…

I can only assume that the Uncle Sam must have wanted, in leaving 2013 behind, to go out with a bang. And boy did he ever. Obviously it was determined that the very best way to do that would be to see just how money could be spend in just 24 hours. I only say that because beginning at the stroke of midnight on 31 December, Uncle Sam, aka the federal government, went on what can only be described as a spending binge of governmental proportions. And in the process it added a net of $125,202,709,546.99 to the nation’s total debt, all in the span of just one day. Now in an effort to put that into perspective, that amount equals approximately $1,088.60 for each of the 115,013,000 households the Census Bureau currently estimates there are in the United States.

Overall, during the first quarter of fiscal 2014, or that 3 month period of time between 1 October to 31 December, the total debt of the federal government jumped by $613,787,258,252.83 or $5,336 for each and every household in the country. At the close of business on Dec. 30, 2013, the total debt of the federal government was $17,226,768,075,403.16. By the close of business on the very next day, New Year’s Eve, the debt had risen to 17,351,970,784,950.15, hence a one-day jump of $125,202,709,546.99. How is it that anyone can look at this amount of money being spent and in only 24 hours and not see it as being nothing short of totally irresponsible and reckless beyond all commonsense? And who in their right mind thinks that this should, or can, continue for very much longer?

Such is the continuing madness that we the American people are constantly being asked to tolerate because we’re told that it’s simply the right thing to do. We are endlessly being provided with all manner of supposed justifications regarding how all of this spending is actually for our own good and the good of the country. And far too many of us, for whatever the reason, seem to be far too accommodating in allowing it to continue, and to even accelerate, completely unabated. Selfishness and greed seem to now be the defining characteristics of what it means to be a modern day American. And strangely enough we seem to possess not even a shred of guilt as we go about the wholesale destruction of a future that would have otherwise been enjoyed by our children.

Look, if we want to ever possess any hope of there being anything left to leave for our children, at least anything that’s worth a shit, then we’re going to have to come to our senses. And sooner rather than later, that’s for sure. We must, somehow, come to possess a mindset that would then enable us to finally recognize that what we are being told by our politicians, including our president, and that we have, for far too long, been willing to accept at face value, is actually nothing more than part of some sinister master plan that actually has us acting as willing accomplices in the destruction of own country. When out of sight, our politicians are laughing at us because it’s been so easily for them to play us as fools. And is that really what we wish our legacy to be?