For those of us who hear all the wonderful news about how well the economy's doing and don't know what the hell they're talking about. Former SC Senator Ernest Hollings explains why all the rosy economic news is so much crap.
With the Iraq debacle, the Washington establishment campaigns for the
elections in November on: "The economy is good, the economy is good." As in the
old movies, let's have a "preview of coming attractions."First, Washington hasn't paid a bill in five years. Inheriting a budget "with
surpluses as far as the eye can see," the president and Congress have been
spending. In five years they have added $2.5 trillion to the national debt.
Beginning in 1789, we paid for all the costs of wars and government before this
nation reached a trillion dollar debt in 1982. The $300 billion Iraq war didn't
cost $2.5 trillion. The Congressional Budget Office now projects that interest
costs on the national debt next year will exceed $1 billion a day ? $399
billion. Spending $1 billion a day for nothing. We have just paid personal
income taxes to the government ? amounting last year to $927 billion. This means
that with interest rates rising the government will spend almost half of its
personal income tax take for nothing. To keep the government going we have to
borrow about $2 billion a day.
We will never pay it off. No matter who is in office, or who is in charge of the money you have to have money to make the governement run. Even if they are spending it for ALL the wrong reasons. Has GErmany paid us off for WWI? No so if we don't collect on what is owed to us we can not pay our debts either.
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