They have cried “wolf” too often over the years.
There is no wolf.
“There is no wolf.”
Not counting them.. the is no wolf.
“There is no wolf.”
Not counting them.. there is no wolf.
There are some favorite conservative positions that do not hold water on this matter.
First is — stop spending and thus stop borrowing. Total spending is $6.3T (2022). Of that, about 23% is borrowed each year.
Of the $6.3T, $1.2T is Social Security. Medicare is $0.75T. Interest listed as $0.5T but that number is nearly double now from last year given rate increases. DoD is $0.75T. Notice I have excluded Medicaid and Welfare. These items add to $3.2T.
Before noting Medicaid, keep in mind 62% of nursing home residents are funded by Medicaid. It’s not only inner city poor getting Medicaid for healthcare. The majority of those $120K/yr nursing home residents are Medicaid because the elderly can’t fund that from Soc Sec. And for the other 38%, keep in mind many Skilled Nursing Facility residents are in rehab for surgery and might be only 40 yrs old, so no, Medicaid is not paying that. Point being, Medicaid is going to have to pay for nearly everyone over 65 in an SNF at some point before death. Medicaid is $0.6T.
Income security (welfare, section 8, food stamps) $0.6T.
The point there is you could ZERO, not reduce, ZERO the total of Medicaid and Income Security and STILL be borrowing money. And be paying for your parents nursing home out of YOUR pocket.
Second, spending rises with population.
Third, interest rates are rising.
Fourth, no the Fed cannot simply print the required deficit. “Print” means buy bonds issued by Treasury. It is those bonds that cannot be issued because of the debt ceiling. The Fed can certainly buy bonds if issued, that is what printing money has been for 15 years, but if bonds cannot be issued because of debt ceiling, the Fed cannot do the bailout.