Paying Bills the Government Way

Picture this, you are broke, I know for some of us this doesn't require a terribly grand stretch of the imagination, but go with me on this, you are broke, but you want to keep living the way you are living. 

You know what, back up a moment, you aren't just broke, you are really broke. You also have several credit cards that are maxed out. So, what do you do when the cable bill arrives in the mail? How about just crumble it up and toss it over your shoulder? What about at the grocery store? Let's say you just fill up your cart with all sorts of goodies and Cheerios and just walk right out of the store, patting yourself on the back because of all the time you saved by not having to wait in line.

If you just ignore the bills that are piling up around you, you could just make a (terribly false) claim that you are not in any more debt then you where the moment before you opened that first neglected bill. In real life the cable company probably won't turn off your HBO subscription the first day after the bill was due, and that appears to be just the case with the Federal Government.

The US Treasury continues to use "extraordinary measures" to be able to continue to spend well above previously budgeted legal level of $16,699,421,095,673.60 even though we continue to accumulate debt for the two months well above and beyond that.

According to the Daily Treasury Statements for the past 70 plus days, the federal debt has been stuck at exactly $16,699,396,000,000.00. Just $25 million and some change below the legal limit.

Even though the government's official accounting of the debt has not budged since May 17th of this year, the Treasury has continued to sell bills, notes and bonds at a value that exceeds the value of the bills, notes and bonds it was redeeming.

Jack Lew's Signature, or exhibit A of his plausible deniability?

In fact, according to the Daily Treasury Statement for May 17, the Treasury had by then already redeemed approximately $4,776,995,000,000.00 since the beginning of the fiscal year (which started on Oct. 1, 2012). As of that same day, the Treasury had already sold $5,354,508,000.000.00 new bills, notes and bonds during the fiscal year. That represented a net increase in publicly circulating U.S. government debt instruments of $577,513,000,000.00 for the fiscal year. This was the same day that Treasury Secretary Jack Lew (look at the signature on your recently issued dollar bill) sent a letter to House Speaker John Boehner. In the letter, Lew said the Treasury would begin implementing what he called “the standard set of extraordinary measures” that allows the Treasury to continue to borrow and spend money even after it has hit the legal debt limit.

A "standard set of extraordinary measures." Seems to me that on top of a clue, a budget, and some balls, Washington may want to look into getting a dictionary. The real question this all raises, how long before all this magic money shuffling catches up to us? Will it be the electric bill? The water bill? Your Social Security check? Your medicare payment? When a person lies about how much money he's secretly spending fueling a gambling or junk food habit, he's called an addict. What is it called when the government has to hide the fact that it's spending money just leaving the lights on? 

Happy Financial Capability Month!

A Proclamation from the President

And my eye rolling responses.

All Americans deserve the chance to turn their hard work into a decent living for their families and a bright future for their children. Seizing that opportunity takes more than drive and initiative -- it also requires smart financial planning. During National Financial Capability Month, we recommit to empowering individuals and families with the knowledge and tools they need to get ahead in today's economy... 

Perhaps it's time the government shore up some of those tools and knowledge for themselves. I can think of no one entity worse then the government to educate the American People on matters of fiscal capability.

...My Administration is dedicated to helping people make sound decisions in the marketplace...

HAH!

...Last year, we partnered with businesses and community leaders to roll out new public and private commitments to increasing financial literacy. We released a new financial capability toolkit to help schools and employers as they launch their own initiatives. And with our College Scorecard and Financial Aid Shopping Sheet, we are working to give families clear, transparent information on college costs so they can make good choices when they invest in higher education. Together, we can prepare young people to tackle financial challenges -- from learning how to budget responsibly to saving for college, starting a business, or opening a retirement account. 

Or, like many Americans, you can give up because you see how much health care is going to cost and realize you can't retire.

Financial capability also means helping people avoid scams and demand fair treatment when they take out a mortgage, use a credit card, or apply for a student loan. My Administration continues to encourage responsibility at all levels of our financial system by cracking down on deceptive practices and ensuring that consumers are informed of their rights... 

How many Bankers went to jail after the Great Recession?

...We also know that too many families are living paycheck-to-paycheck, unable to take advantage of tools that would help them plan for a middle class life. That is why we must build ladders of opportunity for everyone willing to climb them -- from a fair minimum wage that lifts working Americans out of poverty...

Climb up to a higher minimum wage? How do you like that motivational speech. "Work a little harder, and you'll make as much as the government will make sure you get paid anyway!"

...to high-quality preschool and early education that gets every child on the right track early. These reforms would encourage the kind of broad-based economic growth that gives everyone a better chance to secure their financial future...

The latest plan to fix public education, get them into the system sooner, and for longer!

Our history shows that there is no economic engine more powerful than a thriving middle class. Reigniting that engine means giving ordinary citizens the tools to find prosperity, including strong financial capability. To learn more about managing money and navigating the 21st-century marketplace, visit www.MyMoney.gov and www.ConsumerFinance.gov, or call 1-888-MyMoney. 

Anyone else vomit a little bit at a website called "MyMoney.gov"?

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim April 2013 as National Financial Capability Month. I call upon all Americans to observe this month with programs and activities to improve their understanding of financial principles and practices.

Make room National Autism Awareness Month, National Jazz Appreciation Month, National Poetry Month, Confederate History Month (observed only in southern United States), National Arab American Heritage Month, and National Child Abuse Prevention Month!

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
twenty-ninth day of March, in the year of our Lord two thousand thirteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-seventh.

BARACK OBAMA

Of course we are all having a good chuckle with this on April's fools day, but who does the President think he is fooling? He's late with his budget by either a few weeks or a few years depending on how you look at it. We are beyond our eyebrows in debt, this President winces at a spending cut that doesn't even reduce spending, I could go on and on, but suffice to say, this proclamation offends me.

Explaining the Explanation

Today, the President had a press conference explaining the need to raise the debt limit. There has been a lot of confusion reported as a result of some of his comments, allow me to assist with a what they said v. what they meant segment.

"Now right now our economy is growing, and our businesses are creating new jobs. So we are poised for a good year -- if we make smart decisions, sound investments, and as long as Washington politics don’t get in the way of America’s progress."


It's going to be another crappy year, and I will once again blame the House and Republican leadership, and for reasons that even shock and elude me, a lot of people out there will believe it.

"Now, step by step, we've made progress towards <balancing the budget>. Over the past two years, I've signed into law about $1.4 trillion in spending cuts. Two weeks ago, I signed into law more than $600 billion in new revenue by making sure the wealthiest Americans begin to pay their fair share."

We need to focus on raising more taxes because I've already done everything I'm willing to do as far as spending reduction.

"These are bills that have already been racked up, and we need to pay them. So while I’m willing to compromise and find common ground over how to reduce our deficits, America cannot afford another debate with this Congress about whether or not they should pay the bills they've already racked up."

We're not only spending money we don't have, we're spending money that we don't even have a loan for yet. Kind of like inking a deal on a house without talking to your bank yet. So get ready for those stinking republicans who are going to try and say that there is something wrong with this way of governing.

"If congressional Republicans refuse to pay America’s bills on time, Social Security checks and veterans’ benefits will be delayed. We might not be able to pay our troops or honor our contracts with small business owners. Food inspectors, air traffic controllers, specialists who track down loose nuclear materials wouldn't get their paychecks."

Republicans will cause old people to die, our troops to be abandoned, small businesses to go under, planes to collide in mid air, and a nuclear holocaust. This $#*! just got real...

     In response to a question about using executive authority to raise the debt limit without congressional approval;

"...if the House and the Senate want to give me the authority so that they don’t have to take these tough votes, if they want to put the responsibility on me to raise the debt ceiling, I’m happily (sic) to take it. Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate, had a proposal like that last year, and I’m happy to accept it."

Could you imagine the kind of $#*! I could get away with if I didn't have to keep asking these pesky congressmen for permission all the time. 

This kind of reminds me of that fourteen year old who asks his or her parents for their own credit card so they can stop annoying mom and pop with requests for their allowance. This analogy falls apart when you realize this teenager would have already spent his allowance for earnings from now until they are in their mid twenties.

Normally this is the part where people begin to wonder how one man can be so naive to actually believe he should have what basically amounts to unilateral control over all spending in the United States Government, which for the remainder of his presidency would equate to something in the $15 Trillion range. I'm flabbergasted because somehow he is pulling this off within the realm of public perception. People are actually encouraging him to bypass congress with chants of the greater good and overcoming dissent through executive fiat. 

I simply want to remind people that whatever is done in this presidency carries over to the next, regardless of which party they might be a member of.

$5.7 Trillion Timebomb

The Republicans have sworn to never raise taxes, the Democrats believe in a balanced approach and asking the rich a little bit more. What is a compromise that finally makes both sides buckle? The very one that they already passed into law.

Nobody Wins...

Nobody wanted it, most people agree it could bring our already sluggish economy to a screeching halt, yet there is little in the way of stopping it from taking full effect. Picture this, a double barreled shotgun, in the right chamber you have a bill that was passed in August that concentrates cuts on the Pentagon while exempting Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare beneficiaries. It was considered a victory by republicans at the time, putting additional pressure on the Democrats to bend to demands made for more across the board budget cuts, while still preserving the wide spread pledge made to Grover Norquist of no tax increases.

But, 12 years earlier, the left chamber of this proverbial shotgun was loaded by George W. Bush by a republican congress. In order to pass his tax cuts using the 51-vote budget reconciliation process, he had agreed to let them sunset in 2010. At the time, a victory by Democrats who declared these tax cuts a payout to the rich that would ultimately hurt the lower classes  A last-minute deal extended them until the end of 2012 as part of a deal to avoid tax hicks so early in a recession recovery.

Let's fast forward to the far off time of January 1st, 2013. The elections are over, a decent chunk of congress is already packing up their bags having lost their seats, the White House lease may be up and an eviction notice on the door at a time when Congress would have to act to avoid both of these barrels from being fired at the same time. Resulting in a recoil of both a $3.8 Trillion dollar tax increase, and a $1.9 Trillion dollar defense spending cut. Most of that will effect the contract defense industry.

Some have speculated that this has backfired and is playing right into the Presidents hand, that now Republicans will have to agree to a deal, less they have to explain why there are both tax hikes and defense cuts occurring as they stand by, two staple issues for conservatives. While playing into a narrative that the right is doing nothing but obstructing and delaying.

What's at stakes for the Democrats  Well, as in 2010, they don't want to he seen as allowing taxes to go up on the working and middle class during a recovery that most people are laying at the feet of the donkies. Which could change dramatically should republicans win big next month. They may feel that there is a window that they could successfully pass the buck to the right.

Sens. Orrin Hatch (Utah) and Jeff Sessions (Ala.), possible feeling this scenario playing out, pressed  Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Monday to lay out a precise timeline for when the government expects to near the debt ceiling and what "extraordinary measures" can be taken to prolong the deadline. But, even this action is little more then an attempt to understand how bad of a situation the government is finding itself in.

You may be asking; Almost $6 Trillion in revenues and tax cuts over the next 10 years? Wouldn't that make a huge impact on the deficit and debt, couldn't this be a welcome reform? Prehaps, if it didn't spiral us into another recession, how much debt would we eliminate of our current $16 trillion. A trillion? Two trillion? maybe five Trillion? Well, the CBO projects we will still add almost $4 Trillion of debt even if all these things occur in the wake of a healthy recovery. I can think of no better case that we need reform, not more taxation.

Then why is this gut check being avoiding during our election cycle? Why is nothing trying to be done to avoid this time-bomb before it's too late? We are expected to hit our $16.4 Trillion dollar debt limit right about the same time as these 'triggers', all these factors together could be devastating to the economy and our defense. Where are the republicans? Well, wouldn't it be interesting that the party that has cried foul at excessive debt and running with the mantra "Government Doesn't Create Jobs!" would be the ones fighting for jobs paid for with government contracts and against triggers that are specifically designed to eat away at the deficit. Or perhaps our friends on the left. Allowing a raise on taxes to the 98% that they caved in to save two years ago, and having to be held accountable for the tens of thousands of people getting blindsided by layoffs after Obama's administration tried so hard to postpone the news until after the election. Would more be gained from saving jobs and tax rates, or by letting the right look all the worse for letting these events happening.


It's the worst of the game of politics we've seen in some time. Nobody truly want's these cuts and hikes.

Mark my words, something will be done, a deal will be struck. It will cut billions in new spending that will be labeled as cuts, the tax cuts will be extended for a year or two, that will not benefit any new growth. Let me ask you, if you knew you where getting a pay cut next year would you spend spend spend, or save save save? Temporary tax cuts don't work. And now ten years into this tax cut, people would have to go through a transition that would impact the economy negatively if these cuts expired. These rates or the old higher rates, we need to remove this storm cloud hanging over us.

These looming landmines and these conditions are not conducive to a growing economy, and these types of issues probably aren't going to be solved on day one of any new administration or congress. I am disappointed that these questions are not being brought up at the Presidential debates and wish the media would make up for this fact by asking what the respective plans would be to stop pushing these issues down to the next election and to the next generation. 

What's my Debt Again?

Did anyone else catch this?

I figured that since President Obama's time taken to appear on the Late Show with David Letterman took presidence over meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu and addressing the riots that appear to be directed at us in a dozen different Middle Eastern countries that he must of had something pretty important to say. After a crack about seeing David naked (that made me think of a hilarious pun involving the President missing his security briefs) they began to talk about the Republican National Convention. The key part came when David asked President Obama what this who Debt Deal was about. He was responding to  the National Debt Clock that was a prominent feature of the Republican National Convention last month in Tampa.

Obama, "We had a surplus when Bill Clinton was President"

Letterman, "That means extra money."

Obama - "Extra money, that was projected to continue to be a surplus. We decided to launch two wars on a credit card. We cut taxes twice without finding offsetting costs for it, or ways to pay for it. A Perscription drug plan, and then we had a massive recession. So when I walked into office we had a trillion dollar deficit. Debt had mounted, and we had to take Emergency Measures, saved the Auto Industry, making sure that the financial system got back on track. So now, what we have to do it pair down that deficit, get that debt under control. The only way we've been able to do that, effectively, is when you do it a balanced way, so, you cut out spending you don;t need, programs that doesn't work, and like I tell my Democratic friends all the time, if you're going to be in favor of helping the American people you can;t just assume that every government program is working the way it should, it can work better. But, what is also true, is that we are going to need to ask folks like you and me to do a little bit more and if you and I are paying the same tax rates we did under Bill Clinton then that helps to close the deficit. If we do those two things then we can manage very effectively and get our books in order."

Letterman - "Now do you remember what that number was? Was is.. $10 Trillion?"

Obama - "I don't remember what the number was preciously."

Letterman, "Now if this is me and I got the credit card guy calling me everyday, I start to get scared. AS Americans, should we be scared that we owe that kind of money, who do we owe that money to?"

Obama - "Well, a lot of it we owe to ourselves, because if you invest in a treasury bill or something like that then you are essentially loaning the government money. In fact, the majority is owed by folks who live here. But, we don;t have to worry about it short term, right now interest rates are low because people still consider the united states the safest, greatest country on earth, rightfully so. But, it is a problem long term."

The National Debt is an astounding $16 trillion, a number that I have trouble grappling. It also exceeds the size of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product, the total value of goods and services. Even if the government doubled it's revenue with higher taxes and fees, and even if it didn't bring the economy to a grinding halt as a result, it would take over two decades to pay this thing off.

Obama’s answer was a masterpiece of prevarication. He described how the debt originated, and claimed, falsely, that he inherited a $1 trillion deficit. In fact, this country had never run a deficit anywhere near $1 trillion until FY 2009, the first year of the Obama administration.

Even in his stump speeches he proves a lack of having a handle of the deficit. The speech I attended in Cedar Rapids included the line, "We fought two wars on a credit card..." and five minutes later "So I want to take about half the money we’re no longer spending on a war and let’s use it to put people back to work.". Huh? so we still don't have any money, but since we aren't spending this money we don't have on war, lets spend it on job creation, what about the half a trillion plus we spent in 09' and '10 that was supposed to spur our economy? There is no plan to reduce spending, just to funnel it into his own picks and agenda.

In a development directly related to the federal debt and the deficit, the Washington Examiner is reporting that the number of able-bodied Americans on food stamps has doubled after the Obama administration suspended certain work requirements for welfare programs.

Although the president apparently is thus far too busy to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu about the Iranian nuclear threat, his trip to New York also included a campaign fundraiser with Jay-Z and Beyonce. Barely giving the slaying of our ambassador a second thought before flying off to Las Vegas.

Watch President Barack Obama below say he doesn’t remember what the National Debt is precisely (about the six-and-a-half-minute mark):


How frustrated do I become when I see the President so obviously duck a question? Even though millions of people see him do it, nobody seems to care. He's just too cool, he's too charismatic, he has done NOTHING to improve this countries situation on one hand, and in the other, he can do no wrong.Meanwhile, a businessman with one of the greatest track records for turning companies and even the Olympics around gets nothing but blame for only paying $2 million in taxes when he should have been paying $4 million. Well, now it seems that he only had to pay $1.5 million, because of all the money he was donating to charity... yet some people will never know, and will continue to think of him as nothing but an a-hole.

I don't get it...