The Collapse Of America In Raw Numbers (With Video)

Looking at the numbers behind our federal budgets reveals that the majority of our government’s spending goes not to running the day to day operations of government, but rather, to social safety net programs like Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, welfare, food assistance, rental stipends and a host of other entitlement programs. In many cases, the programs themselves are used as a marketing tool during election campaigns, with the winner of an election often being the candidate who promises the most benefits to their constituents.

While this strategy of indirect vote buying has worked well for politicians on both sides of the aisle for many decades, and has been instrumental in ushering in an era of centrally planned economies and expansion of government influence on the individual lives of American citizens, it is as Bill Whittle suggests (video below), an unsustainable system that will ultimately fail.

It’s generally true that the people who receive the most in benefits pay little or nothing in taxes, so people are voting themselves other peoples’ money. It’s not just a vote pump. It’s a wealth redistribution pump, and it pumps $2.2 trillion every single year from people who work and pay taxes to people who often don’t work and don’t pay any taxes.

As long as the benefit receivers can outvote the benefit producers there will be more and more people taking, and fewer and fewer people working harder and harder to produce those benefits. That’s exactly what we’re seeing today.

We face a choice. One option is to cut back on this [entitlement] food supply and gradually but firmly reduce this entitlement dependence to what it was originally intended to be: help for those, who through illness or physical incapacity, cannot help themselves, and return everyone else feeding on this supply from the wealth consumer column to the wealth generator column. That is going to be very, very, very difficult to do.

Or, we can let this continue until the system collapses, and that’ll be sooner rather than later, and much sooner than many of you think. Then there won’t be any benefits at all.

There is certainly something to be said for the ethical and moral obligations of an advanced modern-day society with respect to taking care of those who cannot care for themselves, or those who have experienced a short-term medical or employment emergency. But providing extended womb-to-tomb safety nets and entitlement programs for those who are perfectly capable of working a productive job but refuse to do so, or for those who make poor personal budgetary choices, leads to the inevitable outcome in which everyone eventually realizes that they’d be better off by simply collecting their income from the government.

We are at the point in America where there really is no turning back. While Mr. Whittle’s solution of drastically cutting back these types of nanny-state expenses is a sound one, it is simply not politically feasible for individual politicians. In today’s America, the idea of cutting back on social expenditures and facilitating a return to individual responsibility is political suicide for incumbents, and a non-starter for those wishing to enter the political arena as first time candidates.

Moreover, eliminating these types of expenses is simply not going to be possible without massive social upheaval. Consider what would happen if you cut supplemental food assistance by 50%, or eliminated extensions of emergency unemployment insurance, or, heaven forbid, you take away access to the millions of Obama Phones that will be distributed this year.

We are now so far gone that entitlement cuts to the federal budget will have the same catastrophic impact on society as will the eventual collapse of the monetary, financial and economic systems when our creditors finally stop lending us money. It’s a catch 22 and both options lead to the same end result. Thus, for Congressional representatives who control our budget, the choice is simple: kick the can down the road to keep the system from completely destabilizing for as long as possible.

When the money runs out – and it will, because China, Russia, Japan and the rest of our lenders know we’re a lost cause – the entitlement system in America will fall apart, leaving tens of millions of people without any way to meet their basic needs.

Once this new paradigm becomes apparent you can fully expect riots in the streets - bloodshed, starvation, martial law – all of the worst case scenarios you’ve imagined.

Starting with FDR, the Democrat Party began their attempt to incorporate the teachings of Karl Marx into the fabric of America by converting Marx’s dictum of “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.” into what we know today as “Class Warfare,” “the disparity between the haves and the have nots,” “wealth/income redistribution,” “progressive taxation,” etc.

It took less than 80 years for the Social Security System to become a financially destructive program. This was FDR’s largest part of his New Deal. Since then, almost all Presidents, (from “both” political parties), have added their programs to the financially predatory, share-the-wealth, social-engineering plans started by FDR.

The result has been a pervasive appetite on the part of voters to expect each new presidential candidate to buy their votes with new “free” Federal programs that they think that they are entitled to. The Federal politicians in “both” political parties have been only to happy to comply.

Since we are a consumer-based society, we the consumers pay all the taxes. Businesses do not pay taxes. We pay the businesses for all additional expenses that the Federal, State and Local politicians add to the cost of selling goods and services to us.

Consider for a moment what the financial impact would be if there were no Federal, State, or Local taxes on any fuel used by trains, planes, ships and trucks that are part of the supply chain that delivers goods and services to us, the consumers. Would the cost of a loaf of bread, cell phone, or cost of gasoline at the pump go up or down?

The entitlement mentality of the American voter is still very strong. Consider for a moment who among us really wants in 2013 to receive 35% less financial payments from the Federal Government for our entitlements, including Food Stamps (Nixon), No Child Left Behind (GWB), Medicare (LBJ), Medicaid, and Social Security (FDR)?

Certainly not the Republican In Name Only, (RINO), Party, or the Democrat Party. Thus, we come to today where the RINOs are asked to accept the political plank that the Entitlements of the past are now liabilities for the future.

This concept was brought home forcefully in September, 2008 when the US Government’s Federal Housing Agency went Bankrupt. Americans lost 35 % of their wealth, but the US Federal Government has yet to cut its baselevel spending by the same 35 %.

The US Federal Government continues to live in denial by printing money backed only by the unsolicited pledge of American taxpayers to pay any future downside risk to owners of that money. This money is printed in the futile attempt, (it hasn’t worked yet), to stimulate the return of the 35 % loss of wealth.

The probability is that market forces of supply and demand will force the voters to choose politicians who will adjust Federal Entitlement spending down below market expectations.

The question of that voter mentality change relative to a financial collapse of the US Federal Government is still an open question. Greece and California will be interesting future shock examples of what this Nation can expect.

Romney personifies the denial of the RINO Party to recognize that the primary problem in America is the Entitlement mentality of the American voter. Our National Election of 2012 is all about the money, our money. The RINO Party continues to endorse their best Entitlement Liberal, as just business as usual.

Neither Romney or the GOP has definite plans to change anything of significance to the Entitlement expense that is essentially paid for by strangers who buy our Government Bonds.

Obama”care” not only is the fatal wound to America, it is also destructive to our Freedom of Religion, as well as Separation of Church and State.

Obama”care” is also the clearest definition, so far, of what the Democrat Party has stood for since FDR began to weave Marxism into the daily fabric of the United States of America, the home of the formerly Free and the formerly Brave.

To the best of my knowledge, since that time until now, not one Federal Politician has accepted responsibility for their actions, and inactions in this Federally-caused financial disaster, currently called “The Great Recession.”

Instead, two administrations, from “both” political parties, have successfully been able to convince the voting public, and their children, (especially the OWS), that the FHA/Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac Bankruptcy was not the fault of Federal laws, regulations, regulators, or Congressional watchdog committee failures.

The CYA scapegoat was chosen to be only private business people who work on a highly Federally regulated industry on a street in New York City.

” - - - The only question is, how long do we have? Anyone care to make a prediction (and explanation)?”

Yes. The answer is very simple. If the US Government were to balance the Budget tonight, and keep it balanced for the next 100 years, this is what would happen to our 15 Trillion dollar, (in rounded off numbers), National Debt.

The rule of “72” states that debt, or interest, doubles in 72 years at 1 %, 36 years at 2 %, 18 years at 4 %, and so on, due to annual compounding of interest.

If US Bonds pay 4 %, then our National Debt would be 2 X 15.5 = 31 Trillion dollars in 2030.

However, we continue to elect Federal politicians who promise to expand and protect our entitlements, so National Debt creation will continue as long as we want it to. Well, unless all the Bonds are cashed in at once, or we lack the money, (with value), to pay the interest on the bonds for even one year.

The result of our foolishness is predictable - economic ruin. It is impossible to predict when this will occur. It is also difficult to predict how - will it be abrupt and sudden or will it fall apart over a period of time?

My best guess is that our politicians will honor their promises. In order to honor these promises, they will continue to borrow from future generations. When they can’t borrow any more, they will crank up the printing press until a government check won’t buy a few days worth of groceries. When this happens there will be civil unrest and economic collapse. They will try everything possible to keep the system afloat including price controls, confiscation of private wealth and property, oppressive business taxes (see Chicago), import taxes, federalizing pensions and investment funds, and any other foolish thing they can do. All of their actions only prolong the inevitable economic collapse and anarchy. The only thing that could save us would be incredible economic growth with severe spending cuts. Both growth and cuts are highly unlikely.

I hope I am wrong, but I hold very little hope that any President or national figure can turn this around given how partisan we are. People and interest groups are only concerned about themselves and there is little acceptance of shared sacrifice. This is why austerity measures won’t work. We could elect Reagan on his best day with a GOP congress and they would not cut even half of what is necessary for the government to get back on a path to fiscal stability. They would be voted out of office the next election for whomever promised to reverse the cuts and spend more. We have no stomach for pain. We have no problem passing our debts onto our children and future generations.

At this point, our whole nation resembles a gigantic ponzi scheme. Those at the top - our grandparents and boomers will suffer the least. Like any ponzi scheme that robs the new to pay for the old it only works as long as fools invest in it. Printing money only works as long as people believe a dollar is worth something.

Just my guess and it’s worth no more than yours.

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