US Budget Deficit Third-Highest on Record

The United States Treasury reported a $1.833 trillion budget deficit for the fiscal year ending September 30. This marks the third-highest deficit on record, but it is solely due to government spending.

The highest deficit happened in 2020 during the disaster of COVID, and second behind is the clean-up year of 2021 when the deficit dropped to $2.772 trillion. Bidenomics is nearly as harmful as global one-in-a-lifetime disaster.

The deficit widened 8% or $138 billion from the reported $1.695 trillion in 2023. The department stated that a large chunk of spending went to the reversed decision to forgive $330 billion in student loans after the Supreme Court declared Biden’s attempted bribe to young voters unconstitutional. Democrats are now blaming Republicans for “tax cuts that led to low revenue levels that increased the debt.” Their spending is always our cross to carry, and we will inevitably be punished through taxation.

The government is to blame on both sides. We are funding three major wars yet claim we are not a nation at war. America spends as if it has endless money. Why? Because the US Treasury knows it can never pay off all its debt. It doesn’t intend to pay it off and it is highly likely they let the reigns loose long ago since the actual number matters not. Now we are being crippled by the interest alone on these debts.

There was a 30% annual increase in spending on interest alone on the public debt. The government spent $890 billion on interest alone. For reference, the US defense budget was $866 billion last year. Interest rates rise in times of war, sinking the nation further into debt.

Again, this is not isolated to America as we will see defaults cripple both nations in Asia and Europe before reaching American soil, hence the capital movement into US equities.

A balanced budget in a combination with reducing the size of the federal government by 2/3 should get us there. A COS (Convention of States) might get us there but we’ll all be dead by then anyway so in the end it doesn’t matter.

Have to admit we lived in a pretty decent time compared to some times in the past.

Ukraine ping

[We are funding three major wars yet claim we are not a nation at war.]

The US is not funding any major wars. In total, annual funding for Ukraine and Israel for ongoing conflicts comes to $120b, or about 0.4% of a $27.36T economy. WW2 involved the annual expenditure of 40% of the economy for military purposes, 100x what is being spent today. That’s why rationing, even of food and clothing, had to be introduced, and no civilian car production occurred through the course of the war.

Ukraine ping

[Rationalizing our proxy wars doesn’t justify the massive waste of tax payers money, especially when we are bankrupted, and more importantly when US citizens never voted on the huge waste of their money.

History shows time and time again the US is on the irreversible road to obscurity (defeat).]

Proxy wars are the best kinds of wars. In WW2, we fought two wars, but we also had proxy wars going on the side. We funded the UK, the Russians and multiple other countries with huge sums dwarfing aid to Ukraine and Israel. They fought the Germans and the Japanese independently for their own reasons. Sure, we funded them, but they added their own resources and men.

History shows that nations that stand aside while major powers add to their manpower and resources via armed conquest usually end in the maw of these conquerors. It’s no different from treating disease - the time to deal with it is before a small problem turns into a big one.

A small proxy war from funding Czechoslovakia or Poland with small sums would have prevented Hitler from amassing the resources to build the empire he eventually did. But everyone passed the buck, so we ended up worse off than we would have if we had simply spent the measly sums keeping these countries out of Hitler’s grasp. Our short-sightedness cost us 400K dead and 1.6x 1941’s economy in military spending - the equivalent of $40T relative to today’s economy. Proxy wars would have been cheaper in cash and, more importantly, human mibody. Not just theirs - ours in the form of our dead, widows, orphans, bereaved parents and veterans permanently damaged in mind or body, all for a global war that could have been prevented had Germany been stopped early on.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.