Fauxsterity Measures: US Sees Largest One-Day Debt Bump in History
**Written by Doug Powers
The age of austerity is upon us, except the pitch for this particular brand of “fiscal responsibility” comes across more more like an ad for a sale at a furniture store: “The more you spend the more you save!”
U.S. debt shot up $239 billion on Tuesday — the largest one-day bump in history — as the government flexed the new borrowing room it earned in this week’s debt-limit increase deal.
The debt subject to the statutory limit shot way past the old cap of $14.294 trillion to hit $14.532 trillion on Tuesday, according to the latest the Treasury Department figures, which are released on the next business day.
That increase puts the government already remarkably close to the new debt limit of $14.694, which means one day’s new borrowing ate up 60 percent of the $400 billion in space Congress granted the president this week.
[...]
The previous one-day record debt increase was $186 billion, set on June 30, 2009.
Nancy Pelosi, while munching on some satan fries recently, said the government would burn through the extra $2.4 trillion in new allowable debt within 18 months, but if this pace continued we’d crash into the ceiling again in… oh, a couple of weeks or less. Helmets back on, everyone!
More good news… US borrowing is now over 100% of GDP:
The new borrowing took total public debt to $14.58 trillion, over end-2010 GDP of $14.53 trillion, and putting it in a league with highly indebted countries like Italy and Belgium.
And remember — we’re not even halfway there yet.
**Written by Doug Powers
Twitter @ThePowersThatBe
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Austerity must hit the beltway….. hard.
(turns pockets inside out) All I gots is rabbit ears!
Everyone calm down! The Republicans are already on it and they have a brand new compromise that will solve everything next time.
“Hey, Honey! MasterCard just raised our limit again. That means we can get a new HDTV for the guest room.!”
In the wrong hands that’s what happens when one’s credit card limit is raised. SPEND! SPEND! SPEND!
Better utilization of said HDTV
Are we winning this “race to the bottom” ?
My husband is self employed and we were in a tight spot several months ago so he called a credit card company to ask them to raise the limit just a bit to tide us over that month and they shut down his card, right then and there.
This reminds me of the joke where the woman comes home and tells her husband she just saved him money by spending $1000 on a new fur coat. When the husband starts to get upset and asks her to explains she tells him well it was on sale it used to be $1500 so I just saved you $500, isn’t that great news?
This is why Barry is still blaming Bush, but now the Founding Fathers, as well….
The Budget Control Act Of 2011 Violates Constitutional Order
In a Constitutional Republic of the sort that we thought we had, the process by which laws are made is at least as important as the laws that are enacted. Our Constitution prescribes that law-making process in some detail, but those who voted for the “Budget Control Act of 2011″ (“BCA 2011″) were wholly unconcerned about trampling upon required constitutional processes on the way to the nirvana of “bi-partisan consensus “to avert a supposed crisis. At least two titles of the bill now being rushed through Congress are unconstitutional.
First, the “Debt Ceiling Disapproval Process” in BCA 2011 Title III unconstitutionally upends the legislative process.
But this is not all. Title III also provides that if Congress fails to disapprove the debt ceiling increase in the amount of $900 billion, the President may again certify to Congress that he has determined that the debt subject to the new ceiling is within $100 billion and that further borrowing is required to meet existing commitments. So the Secretary of Treasury is authorized to borrow another $1.2 trillion. Indeed, the Secretary may borrow even more –
By giving the President the authority to increase the debt ceiling and to determine that borrowing is necessary to meet the nation’s commitments, this bill turns the legislative process on its head.
Second, the joint select committee on deficit reduction provision undermines the constitutionally established bicameral legislative process.
These are not matters of constitutional form without meaning — the process was considered central to the founders.
Even the last defender of monarchy among the founders, Alexander Hamilton, warned that to “accumulate, in a single body, all the most important prerogatives of sovereignty [would] entail upon our posterity one of the most execrable forms of government that human infatuation ever contrived.”
The 74-page Budget Control Act of 2011 was not written over the weekend. Yet it was posted on the House Rules Committee website with no fanfare, only hours before it was to be voted upon, breaking the pledge of the House Republicans to provide at least 72-hours advance public notice.
Contrived crisis, appeals to fear, emergency litigation, and suspension of Constitutional order — these are the indicia of abuse of power, leading to tyranny.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/08/the_budget_control_act_of_2011_violates_constitutional_order.html
A panel of small business owners who also affiliate themselves with the Tea Party, one of which is a Cuban man who immigrated to this country 50 years ago to get away from socialism. While all of them took offense at being labeled as terrorists, the man from Cuba says he’s seen this playbook before and he never thought he would see freedom in jeopardy here in America:
http://www.therightscoop.com/i-never-in-50-years-thought-id-see-a-day-when-freedom-was-in-jeopardy/
We get the government we deserve! We elected these crooks and reelected these crooks, and demanded they squander our treasure and blood on crap. We’ve fought the war on poverty for 56 years, we have fought the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for 10 years. We’ve fought the war in Europe and Korea and Thailand for nearly 50 years. All this is due to constituents demanding these inanities. And the biggest inanity is the U.N. which sucks down massive levels of money while accomplishing NOTHING.
I listened to Ron Paul being interviewed on CNBC this morning. He is mulling challenging the Super Committee on constitutional grounds and thinks it’s a slam dunk case.
This is what was meant by Obama being a “Historic President”.
Wow. If the challenging presidential candidate can’t use these spending sprees to get elected then we really are screwed.
Awwww look. The boy-king likes his new toy.
“Is the White House out of their mind? Does the West Wing not know what the left wing is doing? We’re $14 trillion in debt and now we’re going to cover birth control, breast pumps, counseling for abuse? Are we going to do pedicures and manicures as well?” Fox News
Ahhh….
I wonder what Jesus would say about this sort of compassion?
Thanks Conservatives.
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2011/08/03/fox-news-compares-helping-battered-women-to-getting-a-manicure/
Ilovemycountry said:
Nothing of substance.
Well bho and mo did need some spending money for their trip to chicago, didn’t they? That should tide them over for a day or two the way they spend taxpayers money!
L
IlovemyMarxist said #16
I wonder what
JesusStalin would say about this sort ofcompassionoppression?If you watch MSNBC, maybe.
Proverbs 22:7
7 The rich rule over the poor,
and the borrower is slave to the lender.
That we are now a slave to China.
FIFY.
Subject: DOES THIS MAKE IT CLEARER ?
Federal Budget 101:
The U.S. Congress sets a federal budget every year in the trillions of dollars.
Few people know how much money that is so we created a breakdown of federal spending in simple terms. Let’s put the 2011 federal budget into perspective:
* US income: $2,170,000,000,000
* Federal budget: $3,820,000,000,000
* New debt: $1,650,000,000,000
* National debt: $14,271,000,000,000
* Recent budget cut: $38,500,000,000 (about 1 percent of the budget)
It helps to think about these numbers in terms that we can relate to, so let’s remove eight zeros from these numbers and pretend this is the household budget for the fictitious Jones family:
* Total annual income for the Jones family: $21,700
* Amount of money the Jones family spent: $38,200
* Amount of new debt added to the credit card: $16,500
* Outstanding balance on the credit card: $142,710
* Amount cut from the budget: $385
So in effect last month Congress, or in this example the Jones family, sat down at the kitchen table and agreed to cut $385 from its annual budget. What family would cut $385 of spending in order to solve $16,500 in deficit spending? It is a start, although hardly a solution.
Now after years of this, the Jones family has $142,710 of debt on its credit card (which is the equivalent of the national debt).
You would think the Jones family would recognize and address this situation, but it does not. Neither does Congress.
The root of the debt problem is that the voters typically do not send people to Congress to save money. They are sent there to bring home the bacon to their own home state.
To effect budget change, we need to change the job description and give Congress new marching orders.
It is awfully hard (but not impossible) to reverse course and tell the government to stop borrowing money from our children and spending it now. In effect, what we have is a reverse mortgage on the country. The problem is that the voters have become addicted to the money. Moreover, the American voters are still in the denial stage, and do not want to face the possibility of going into rehab…
Did you consider it may have never stopped?
I’ve been hitting folks on the left with the individual household analogy to the US budget for weeks now. They’re incapable of hearing it. They change the subject or simply call me a liar instead.
Today I read another analogy, which compared the Tea Party representatives as carjackers with a gun, the economy as the car, and Obama as a baby in the back seat. Well, here’s what would have made the analogy correct:
Tea Party conservatives are the carjacker with a gun, but they actually own part of the title to the car. The baby is behind the wheel and has a gun of his own. The baby claims that Bush owns the car. . .
And the car is almost out of gas.
Frankly, at this point I would gladly take King Tutankhamun over Barack Obama.
Thanks, Green eyed Lady for the link to American Thinker. As the saying goes, “read it all.” I did just before coming here. American Thinker is a great website, one I visit more than once a day since new postings come out every few hours. If any of you are not already going there, I suggest it. You’ll be in good company. And as an added bonus, there are no snot-nosed little brats like Ilovemymonkey hanging around and polluting the atmosphere.
– tre
You do realize that even today, China owns less than 20% of our debt, right? The vast majority is owned to American individuals and corporations.
But still, owing even a fifth of our total debt to China is still worrisome.
Iluvmyincoherent ramblings said:
You obviously have never opened a Bible, and only parrot the lefty “Jesus” talking points to try to shame conservative Christians into supporting your (not Jesus’) agenda. Jesus was all about compassion, but it ALWAYS involved personal involvement (and sacrifice). He never advocated government theft and distribution to the slackers. He never even advocated government taking care of the unfortunate- that is OUR responsibility; Which becomes more and more difficult with the government appropriating more and more of the money I make.
Yes, but don’t say ‘Tar Baby.’
Liberals look at those numbers, shrug, and says “ok, so what’s the problem?”
Yes sir, been there and here for years!
Please ban the troll.
Amen to that. Long past due.
Dream on Alice.
Wonderland is just around the corner.
I think it’s pretty obvious, we need to spend more until our income goes up.
Ditto.
Dittos to that also. Bringing faith into its comments is sickening, IMO. it does the same thing daily.
L
And how does that compare with what Obama promised would happen:
It’s time for Democrats to practice what they preach:
“Pay as you go” is all the Tea-Party terrorists wanted. But what the Democrats really want is “buy now, pay later” so they can steal from our children and grandchildren. A caller to Rush coined the perfect name for these tax and spend Democrats. They are “financial pedophiles”!
Wait – fiscal conservatives are terrorists and hobbits and teabaggers – I know because the MSM told me – and you want me to vote for them? Some even pray which means a certain percentage of voters would rather suffer a 2nd Great Depression than vote for them.
Dear Barack,
Thanks for taking on the extra workload, it was getting a bit much for me.
BTW, your plan worked out great, no one around here suspects a thing (shaving the beard was an excellent idea, please send my gratitude to Valarie Jarrett). I get my Nebraska barber’s license next week.
You know, downtown Omaha is not so bad, thanks to the pool bar and deck chairs you got Joe to ship me.
May the fatwa be with you.
Your Fellow Jihadi and Brother In Arms,
Osama
Totally agree. Between the lack of any substance to its posts, the constant demeaning comments towards conservatives, and the utter perversion of christ that it tries on a daily basis I too agree it is high time that this troll be shown the exit door for good.
Economics is hard…. Telling a lie is easy…Let’s go with the lie (Democrat mantra/policy)
Has anyone (Repub or Dem) ever mentioned the word “surplus” in any budget discussion? Why not? Without a surplus the debt will continue to grow. It is not rocket science.
Come on.
Did anyone here REALLY believe these clowns ever gave a crap about the Constitution?
Beam me up!
RWR
http://www.rightwingrocker.com
Won’t matter.
Once elected, he (or she) will embark upon his/her own spending spree, and you’ll be forced to take solace in your perception that the alternative would have been worse.
RWR
http://www.rightwingrocker.com
Is it possible that ordinary Americans understand the immense critical nature of the problem and refuse to respond or is it that we just don’t give a damn anymore?
That the ‘revolution’ has not started over the latest ‘debt deal’ suggests no one is really all that concerned.
How sorry a situation is that?
Indeed.
“Give unto Caesar what is Caesar’s.”
RWR
http://www.rightwingrocker.com
Now, psychotic is being thrown out there…
After a week of every shameless liberal “civility” scold in the media universe comparing Republicans to terrorists and other assorted miscreants, Bashir knew he had to do something special to break from the pack. Any time-serving left-wing hack on the New York Times op-ed page can compare tea partiers to terrorists. A clever, hard-working left-wing hack goes the extra mile and brings in a doctor to declare them certifiable. That’s more useful to the left than the “terrorist” label, in fact: Both lines of attack are meant to delegitimize the right, but clinical language adds a veneer of authority and expertise. If you’re disappointed that they didn’t drop the T-bomb, though, don’t fret. By the end of the clip, Peele is reassuring Bashir that austerity addiction might lead to terrorism. Bases covered.
http://hotair.com/archives/2011/08/03/hacktastic-martin-bashir-and-shrink-analyze-childish-possibly-psychotic-tea-partiers/
I recommend watching it twice, the first time to take it in and the second time to focus on Peele’s criticism as an almost preternaturally perfect case of projection.
Fauxsterity! Doug, may I say how much I enjoy your sense of humor? Between “Fauxsterity” and the “Steve Urkel-izaton of the Economy,” MM and you made me laugh out loud on an otherwise bumpy day. Thanks!
Stan,
That word has not gone totally ignored, per Post # 9 on another MM board.
you never answered me the other day when I asked you: what do you think He’d say?
From the time that President George W. Bush took office in January 2001 until the time the Demonrats took control of both houses of Congress in January 2007, the national debt as a percentage of GDP was around 60%.
Since January 2007, the Demonrats have controlled 2, and sometimes 3, of the three budget-making bodies (House, Senate, Presidency), and they have driven the debt from 60% of our GDP to 100% of our GDP in 4 and half years!
The Republican House was elected to stop the insanity. But they were too afraid of being blamed for a default. The fact is, there is enough monthly revenue to avoid default (by paying the minimum debt payments) AND pay out Social Security checks AND pay our military AND still have $70 Billion left over. Anyone who seriously thought that we would default was mistaken. If the Democrats actually CHOSE to default, when there was enough revenue to pay the debt, they could not get away with pinning that on the Republicans. The MSM doesn’t run the show now like they did in 1995. Simlarly, if the Democrats actually CHOSE not to send out Social Security checks, when there was enough revenue to pay them, they could not get away with pinning that on the Republicans.
The Republicans would have done better to not cut any deal, and let us hit the debt limit. That would have FORCED a De Facto month to month balanced budget!
But again, the Republicans (including Col. Alan West) were too afraid of being blamed for something bad, and felt it was better to make a deal know and kick the deficit can down the road. They chose poorly.
ilovemycountry–answer me.
and while you’re at it, tell me again which ‘African’ country you visited?
As always with your postings, this is FACTUALLY INCORRECT. Fox News said no such thing – a panelist on one of their shows did. You know the difference between a company and a network, right? You must now apologize for, once again, lying.
And I’ve told you not to post again until you’ve learned to respond to our questions, so first you have to apologize for lying and then you have to answer this question: Why do you support the left?
Hey Ma, throw me down some more Handiwipes, I got anal leakage again!
Thats got my vote.
It adds nothing to the debate. Ever.
Exactly.
Cut,cap and balance wasn’t perfect but it was a hell of a lot better then what we got. BooHoo should have stopped while he was ahead. Instead he tore a page from the repub handbook and snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
But hey what do I know I’m just a teabag terrorist!
And now the Dow has dropped by 500 points. Coincidence?
Not by a long shot.
More bad things are coming.
Partially. There are lots of variables for the drop today. Some concerns about Italy’s debt, concerns of further European problems, and concerns over a double-dip recession in the U.S.
Lots of variables. Oddly enough, none are really tied to the viability and success that companies within the DOW have been having over the last few quarters.
Sometimes people sell after watching others sell. They don’t know why, but they see 350 down (which is what the loss was until like the last hour or two) and react. Trust me, we got calls.
People get scared. My personal opinion is that a large majority of large cap stocks are over-sold and are nice values at this time.*
*Please note this statement is not financial advice and does not reflect how MM, the gracious hostess of this blog, may feel.
Maybe ’cause the left supports him. I’m guessing he’s living off the generousity of his mum and a funding from an Annenberg Foundation communications grant for his tireless work in annoying and confounding conservative bloggers. Pays for his computer, internet service, and pizza on Friday nights.
The new members did not stand strong in the HOUSE. Is it really over?
Liberals look at those numbers and say “We need trains!”
If we could tie 10,000 liberals ( and a least a few trolls) to the tracks I would kick in a few bucks.
Monday do it again.
Normally that is a good time to buy–these are not normal times. Where in the world can you put your money and protect it from Fedzilla and Bernake’s Monetizing the debt-inflation?
Re-loading supplies, some extra food and water and a generator seem reasonable at the moment. Times such as these perception can lead to panic–panic beats logic every time.
Either that or “So what would you cut?!” in a most confrontational tone that indicates that all manner of calamity will occur if even a penny of the budget (except military of course) is cut. America will no longer be America, old people will starve (before Obama can just give them a pill), the oceans will begin rising again, kittens will no longer be cute, and the economy (which is doing so great now) will collapse.
WHY do people compare government debt to percent of GDP?
Government cannot tax away 100% of GDP because who would bother producing?
We should be comparing government debt to government assets. That is what accountants call the debt to equity ratio.
Comparing government debt to GDP is comparing my neighbor’s debt to my income. Apples and oranges.
On August 4th, 2011 at 9:23 pm, BK said:
It puts things in a frame of reference. While debt rose under Republican control under GWBush, it rose in proportion to the growth of GDP. Once the Demonrats gained control of a majority of the three budget-making bodies, they grew the debt so fast that it far outstripped the growth of GDP, and the debt as a percentage of GDP shot from 60% to 100% and is still rising.
It’s not that we think government could or should try to tax 100% of GDP. They can’t, and shouldn’t even try. But the deeper they dig that debt hole (which will now be more than $2 TRILLLION bigger), the longer it is going to take us to climb out of that hole once we finally balance the budget and finally get to the point where we are carrying budget surpluses and can start paying down the debt.
On August 4th, 2011 at 3:24 pm, rightwingrocker said:
Wow. If the challenging presidential candidate can’t use these spending sprees to get elected then we really are screwed.
Won’t matter.
Once elected, he (or she) will embark upon his/her own spending spree, and you’ll be forced to take solace in your perception that the alternative would have been worse.
RWR
http://www.rightwingrocker.com
Perhaps, I hope you’re wrong.
Your point doesn’t make sense. GDP is not the same as income. GDP is the monetary value of all goods and services produced and it is a perfectly appropriate reference for pegging debt. That has been the convention for a very long time and it wasn’t arrived at arbitrarily. The objective is to peg debt to something that meaningful.
Comparing government accounting to personal or business accounting makes little sense. What is the point of knowing the government’s debt to equity ratio anyway? It is one of many statistics derived mostly to compare the strength of companies versus their competitors.
Besides, how do you price government assets? There is no pricing mechanism for national parks, undeveloped land, military assets (especially the secret weapons) and other assets as their is for non-government assets. It’s called “the open market”. The corrupt politicians would simply dictate a numbers that suits their purpose by “marking to make believe” and who could dispute them?
Nice try but it doesn’t make sense.
A debt to equity ratio doesn’t compare debt to assets.
A debt to equity ration compares debt to the market value of shareholder equity.
Do you understand the difference?
So do I, but the evidence isn’t very encouraging.
RWR
http://www.rightwingrocker.com
b-but…there was going to be cut backs?
*that only reach the CURRENT RAISED AMOUNT IN 8-10 years.*
At Current Rates only if we spend the WHOLE tax collected could we pay it back in oh 10 years. Spartanish spending won’t pay for it. Maybe a few of our Military bases overseas and a pull back to North America will help cover it.