Tag Archives: 30 Trillion

Current Events

D-Day Approaches

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Hi Gang, the D in this case stands for DEBT, our countries debt! I hesitated to post this article, but I really think it needs to be out there so people understand what is going on in our country today economically. As a self-made Economist who loves the topic and follows it more than anything else we are about to reach a turning point in America. June 1st is D-Day folks. This has never happened in the USA and if it does this time, it will have far reaching impact on many things, not to even mention America’s reputation throughout the world. I’ll save my further comments  after you read it.

15 May 2023
Military.com | By  Rebecca Kheel

Billions of dollars of veterans benefits could be imperiled if the U.S. defaults on its debts, though the full extent of the fallout is uncertain because of the unprecedented nature of a default.

About $12 billion in veterans benefits are expected to be paid out June 1 — the same day the Treasury Department has named as the earliest day a default could happen if Congress doesn’t act to avoid it.

A default would likely delay those benefits, but for exactly how long would depend on the Treasury’s next move after a default, experts who spoke to Military.com said.

“There is significant uncertainty as to what would occur because we’ve never been there,” said Rachel Snyderman, senior associate director of business and economic policy for the Bipartisan Policy Center, the Washington, D.C., think tank that estimated how much money in veterans benefits is due to be paid in June.

At issue is what’s known as the debt ceiling or debt limit, which is the amount of money the Treasury can borrow in order to pay the nation’s bills. The exact timing of the “X date,” or the day the Treasury runs out of cash, is a moving target since it depends on how much tax revenue comes in, but Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned it could happen as soon as June 1. If you care to, look up this idiots bio and see how many Econ courses she has ever taken. She just learned how to spell Treasury when she got the job.

Pentagon officials have sounded the alarm about how a default could affect paychecks for service members.

House Republicans are demanding spending cuts in exchange for lifting the ceiling. The White House has maintained Congress should raise the ceiling immediately to avoid even the specter of a default and that any talks about spending cuts should be handled separately, though President Joe Biden has signaled an openness to clawing back unspent COVID-19 funds as Republicans have demanded. LOL, Biden wants to raise the ceiling THEN talk about cuts, that is so funny, it’s crazy. Does anyone really believe he means that. One of those famous, “The check is in the mail ” statements.. And they are still paying COVID payments? 

With the deadline fast approaching, Biden and congressional leaders met at the White House last week, and staff-level talks have continued since then. A second meeting between Biden and congressional leaders had been scheduled for Friday but was canceled. Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., are next scheduled to meet Tuesday, Biden said Monday.

McCarthy sounded a pessimistic note Monday, telling reporters he thinks the two sides are still “far apart” and that it “seems like [administration officials] want to default more than they want a deal.” Certainly, so they can blame it all on the GOP

While the Biden administration and House Republicans have been trading accusations about whether the GOP proposal to slash overall government spending would mean cuts to the Department of Veterans Affairs, less talked about has been how veterans could be affected by a default.

The Bipartisan Policy Center’s estimate of payments that could be missed, including veterans benefits, is based on analysis of past Treasury reports on its daily transactions, Snyderman said. The estimate for veterans benefits covers any benefit administered by the VA, she said.

In addition to the June 1 payment, another round of veterans benefits is expected to be paid June 30.

“With each additional day that impasse continues, there could be an exponential impact on what that payment delay could look like,” Snyderman said.

Experts see two possible scenarios for how the Treasury could try to pay U.S. bills after hitting the debt ceiling. In one scenario, the Treasury could choose to prioritize making certain payments before others as cash comes in. In that case, how long veterans benefits and military pay is delayed would depend on where they fall in line for priorities. Yellen has downplayed the possibility of prioritizing payments, doubting that it is technically feasible.

In another scenario, the Treasury could wait until it has enough cash in hand to make a full day’s worth of payments in the order in which they came due. Then, if a default happened June 1, veterans benefits due that day might see only a short delay, but delays for later veterans benefits and other payments would grow the longer the impasse lasts.

“We’ve never defaulted, and we’ve never breached the debt limit, and because it’s so unfathomable, there’s no public playbook for what to do in a situation when this happens,” said Marc Goldwein, senior vice president and senior policy director for the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

“Some prioritization is probably possible, but it would be difficult for them to justify continuing to pay full veterans benefits and not paying other things,” he added. “It’s possible they would do that. Veterans are very popular. But I think we should assume that at least payments would be delayed.”

A lengthy default could equate to up to 30% in cuts for non-interest government spending, Goldwein said.

In addition to potentially hitting veterans benefits, about $12 billion in military and civilian retirement pay that is expected June 1 and about $4 billion in military salaries that is scheduled for June 15 could be disrupted by a default, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin alluded to the potential effect on military pay in congressional testimony last week.

“What it would mean realistically for us is that we won’t, in some cases, be able to pay our troops with any degree of predictability,” Austin said at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing Thursday. No kidding Jose, someone woke this fool up, go back to sleep you POS.

Administration officials issued similar warnings the last time the U.S. was close to a default in 2021. That year, Congress approved a debt limit increase with days to spare after Senate Republicans agreed not to block legislation. While Democrats controlled both chambers of Congress at the time, they didn’t have the 60 votes typically needed to advance legislation in the Senate.

The negotiating dynamics are different this time because Republicans now control the House. The last debt ceiling crisis when Republicans held the House and Democrats controlled the White House and the Senate in 2011 ended with an agreement to lift the debt ceiling in exchange for steep spending cuts.

— Rebecca Kheel can be reached at rebecca.kheel@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @reporterkheel.

Okay, here is my take.  First of all I find it interesting  the only folks they are talking about being hurt are the military and the VA recipients, what about all the others who will be impacted by this, hopefully including all the illegals, welfare, elected officials, and government workers in general. No, they want to hit home to the compassionate types. Oh dear me, our soldiers and our vets. Hogwash! We’ll handle it.

My take. I want the USA to default, I really do. I know that sounds crazy, but I personally and professionally as an Economist, hope McCarthy stands his ground and doesn’t give Biden one inch. Then we’ll see how all those department heads who got their job, not because of their intelligence or background, but because of their sexual orientation, skin color, or whatever figure out how to handle the issues brought about by a default.

I’m living on a military retirement and am a VA recipient so this will hurt Nancy and I very much. But, we CANNOT keep raising the debt limit and keep spending and spending, Can you imagine what thirty trillion dollars looks like folks. No you can’t, and neither can any of us.

I have written all three of my national elected officials and told them to stand their ground, make everyone hurt so they understand what is at stake here. I encourage you to do the same, then tighten your belt. Nuff said. Semper Fi,

Recent Posts

Is America Dying?

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This was sent to me from a fellow Marine brother with the author unknown, but whoever took the time to write this, he or she has created an absolute masterpiece of gospel truth. I urge you to read it slowly and absorb it all. Then read it again. Nations  of long ago took centuries to fail, not so in today’s electronic world. The script has been written, the play appears to be in its final act – the United States of America as we knew it is doomed. Thank you Al

Men, like nations, think they’re eternal.  What man in his 20s or 30s doesn’t believe, at least subconsciously, that he’ll live forever? In the springtime of youth, an endless summer beckons. As you pass 70, it’s harder to hide from reality…. as you lose friends and relatives.

Nations also have seasons: Imagine a Roman of the 2nd century contemplating an empire that stretched from Britain to the Near East, thinking: This will endure forever…. Forever was about 500 years, give or take…. not bad, but gone!!

France was pivotal in the 17th and 18th centuries; now the land of Charles Martel is on its way to becoming part of the Muslim ummah.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the sun never set on the British empire; now Albion exists in perpetual twilight. Its 96-year-old sovereign is a fitting symbol for a nation in terminal decline.

In the 1980s, Japan seemed poised to buy the world. Business schools taught Japanese management techniques. Today, its birth rate is so low and its population aging so rapidly that an industry has sprung up to remove the remains of elderly Japanese who die alone.

I was born in 1945, almost at the midpoint of the 20th century – the American century. America’s prestige and influence were never greater. Thanks to the “Greatest Generation,” we won a World War fought throughout most of Europe, Asia, and the Pacific. We reduced Germany to rubble and put the rising sun to bed. It set the stage for almost half a century of unprecedented prosperity.

We stopped the spread of communism in Europe and Asia and fought international terrorism. We rebuilt our enemies and lavished foreign aid on much of the world.  We built skyscrapers and rockets to the moon. We conquered Polio and now COVID. We explored the mysteries of the Universe and the wonders of DNA – the blueprint of life.

But where is the glory that once was Rome? America has moved from a relatively free economy to socialism – which has worked so well NOWHERE in the world.

We’ve gone from a republican government guided by a constitution to a regime of revolving elites. We have less freedom with each passing year. Like a signpost to the coming reign of terror, the cancel culture is everywhere. We’ve traded the American Revolution for the Cultural Revolution.

The pathetic creature in the White House is an empty vessel filled by his handlers. At the G-7 Summit, ‘Dr. Jill’ had to lead him like a child. In 1961, when we were young and vigorous, our leader was too. Now a feeble nation is technically led by the oldest man to ever serve in the presidency.

We can’t defend our borders, our history (including monuments to past greatness) or our streets. Our cities have become anarchist playgrounds. We are a nation of dependents, mendicants, and misplaced charity.  Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.

The president of the United States can’t even quote the beginning of the Declaration of Independence (‘You know – The Thing’) correctly. Ivy League graduates routinely fail history tests that 5th graders could pass a generation ago. Crime rates soar and we blame the 2nd Amendment and slash police budgets.

Our culture is certifiably insane. Men who think they’re women. People who fight racism by seeking to convince members of one race that they’re inherently evil, and others that they are perpetual victims. A psychiatrist lecturing at Yale said she fantasizes about “Unloading a revolver into the head of any white person.” We slaughter the unborn in the name of freedom, while our birth rate dips lower year by year. Our national debt is so high that we can no longer even pretend that we will repay it one day. It’s a $30-trillion monument to our improvidence and refusal to confront reality. Our “entertainment” is sadistic, nihilistic, and as enduring as a candy bar wrapper thrown in the trash.  Our music is noise that spans the spectrum from annoying to repulsive.

Patriotism is called an insurrection, treason celebrated, and perversion sanctified. A man in blue gets less respect than a man in a dress. We’re asking soldiers to fight for a nation our leaders no longer believe in.

How meekly most of us submitted to Fauci-ism (the regime of face masks, lockdowns, and hand sanitizers) shows the impending death of the American spirit.

How do nations slip from greatness to obscurity?
* Fighting endless wars they can’t or won’t win
* Accumulating massive debt far beyond their ability to repay
* Refusing to guard their borders, allowing the nation to be inundated by an alien horde
* Surrendering control of their cities to mob rule
* Allowing indoctrination of the young
* Moving from a republican form of government to an oligarchy
* Losing national identity
* Indulging indolence
* Abandoning God, faith, and family – the bulwarks of any stable society.

In America, every one of these symptoms is pronounced, indicating an advanced stage of the disease.

Even if the cause seems hopeless, do we not have an obligation to those who sacrificed so much to give us what we had? I’m surrounded by ghosts urging me on: the Union soldiers who held Cemetery Ridge at Gettysburg, the battered bastards of Bastogne, those who served in the cold hell of Korea, the guys who went to the jungles of Southeast Asia and came home to be reviled or neglected.

This is the nation that took in my immigrant grandparents, whose uniform my father and most of my uncles wore in the Second World War. I don’t want to imagine a world without America, even though it becomes increasingly likely.

During Britain’s darkest hour, when its professional army was trapped at Dunkirk and a German invasion seemed imminent, Churchill reminded his countrymen, “Nations that go down fighting rise again, and those that surrender tamely are finished.”

The same might be said of causes. If we let America slip through our fingers, if we lose without a fight, what will posterity say of us?

While the prognosis is far from good. Only God knows if America’s day in the sun is over.

Author Unknown

Postscript: Read it and weep, forward or erase it! I read it three times and am now posting it to you, believing that we are at the moment in time to either stand up, or shut up! We now may soon be at the next stage in our country’s future. I believe it is closer than we think. God help us.