People have a penchant for sending nearly all incumbents back into Congress. As the War on Poverty and the Great Society began, the budget for defense was 46% of outlays and payments to individuals 28% For 2024 estimated defense shrinks to 15.2% and payments to individuals grows to 72% of outlays.

In 1964 federal debt was $312 billion and 46% of GDP, but has grown to $34 trillion and 122% of GDP through 2023. Federal debt at 122% of GDP is where countries like Greece reside. Unfunded Social Security and Medicare promises to add a total of $163 trillion.

Clearly, expenses provide the solution, but concentrating power with ossified politicians got us here. The American Dream is life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. An impenetrable defense and a sound civil justice system secure life and liberty. The pursuit of happiness always meant spiritual wellbeing and not government largesse.

When not ignoring expenses with continuing resolutions, congresses and administrations sustain the alternate reality of base line budgeting. Under this program, previous year appropriations increase for estimated inflation and enhancements and are compounded for ten years. The Office of Management and Budget then scores reductions in the rate of growth as “budget cuts.”

These concerns are dismissed by saying the national debt is an obligation we owe ourselves. However, foreign individuals and countries hold substantial amounts, and they are not “we.” Faced with such lunacy, pragmatic buy and sell decisions on world markets can create an uncontrollable cascade for the Fed.

Nolan Nelson

Redmond

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