As I See It
$35 trillion and no one seems to care
This election season the talk on the campaign trail has been dominated by the economy, border security, abortion and foreign policy. But one issue neither presidential candidate is talking about is one that is quickly becoming a growing concern, and that is the growing federal debt. The federal debt today stands at $35 trillion. It has grown quickly, from $20 trillion in 2017, a growth of 75% in just seven years. As staggering as it sounds, the debt is growing even more quickly, at a rate of $7.9 billion per day, or $330 million every hour. That is unsustainable. It is perhaps not surprising that the federal debt is not an issue that gets much attention among our candidates for the nation’s highest office. Who would want to talk about that? But to be fair, the huge debt is largely a product of decisions made in Congress. They have created this debt spiral, continuing to pass unbalanced budgets year after year. Federal interest payments, just the interest, not the debt, are poised to become the largest spending item in the federal budget, bigger than even defense spending, by the end of this year. On this current path, America could be on the path to insolvency, and someone needs to start talking about that.
Roy
August 5, 2024 at 8:18 am
The biggest jump lately occurred with Biden’s free checks to everyone who sneezed during Covid. Then, the Biden checks to all local governments for Covid relief, the expenditures of which went to everything but Covid relief, whatever that is. Much of the money is still unspent locally or can’t be accounted for.
At the time, I cringed at the Treasury doors being opened, knowing that every imagined crisis would warrant another opening of the vault and Congressmen bragging that they “Fought for relief for you” at campaign time.
But, everyone who carries a balance on a credit card does the same thing in their household that the Federal government does—writes themselves a loan with high interest rates. They put it out of their mind, just as politicians do.
Libertarian Guy
August 5, 2024 at 8:44 am
Scott,
Libertarians have been sounding this alarm for decades. No one is talking about it? Libertarians are very concerned and recognize the country is in significant danger due to the ever-growing, worsening financial mass the two major parties are creating. Focusing on this issue does not get your team (party) elected so Republicans and Democrats ignore it. The media also ignores it. Members of the media like yourself pretend no one is talking about it. There are people talking about it, but media ignores us. When was the last time concerns about the national debt have been brought up by media during interviews of the so-called major party candidates? Libertarians are not just talking about it. We are advocating serious reductions in federal spending to actually balance the budget. And balancing the budget is only a start. A balanced budget only means we maintain the debt at 35 trillion. That is, we stop spending more than revenue. Once the budget is balanced, then we need to pay down the nation debt by spending less than revenue. Minnesota If you’re really concerned about the national debt, start promoting the libertarian party and get them on the debate stage in Wisconsin. Tell the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association to treat all candidates on the ballot equally instead of creating criteria designed to exclude Libertarians.
LG
August 5, 2024 at 2:45 pm
Correction: that was supposed to say, Mr. Shaw, if you are really concerned about the national debt…
It was not supposed to say Minnesota.
Nick
August 5, 2024 at 9:05 am
What would you expect with lying giveaway Joe following Bernie and Elizabeth’s orders.
Has been doing so since 2021, the whole tenure in office has big ONE BIG LIE.
Kamala has been in on the lie as well.
The American public had no say in the Democratic candidate.
Kevin
August 5, 2024 at 2:26 pm
I don’t even know how SRS comes up with that, no one seems to care! The conservative side of the equation always seems to care. The democrats and chamber of commerce republicans don’t seem to care. As for Trump, he did his best to increase income, tax reductions, the problem is the legislative body could not seem to do their job and decrease spending. So cry all you want, but the legislative body needs to do it’s job! it is the body that spends money. Then we as a country have to quit burning millions in the form of guns & bombs for those countries that just do not like us….
Wow, no one cares! gotta be kidding me!
walden
August 5, 2024 at 6:23 pm
Wow, complaining about the national debt. After writing so many columns criticizing the WI legislature for not spending Wisconsin’s budget surplus. So, which is it Shaw? Irresponsible spending or run a surplus? Shaw was an advocate of spending the surplus with no plan on how to spend it…just spend it on something, anything! Its the Dem way!
By the way, the $7 billion WI surplus Shaw was always whining about is now projected to shrink to $3.1 billion by next June, all by itself, even with Gov Evers grandiose spending plans thwarted.