Archive for Trillion
9+9+9=2,160,000,000,000
Posted by: | CommentsPresidential hopeful Herman Cain claims that his 999 tax plan where businesses and individuals are federally taxed at a flat rate of 9% in addition to a 9% national sales tax will be revenue neutral. I am always perplexed by so-called trumpeters of limited government that want to change tax policy while at the same time ensuring the government will haul in the same or more tax receipts. Since taxes are the food for big government, how can you continue to feed the beast and expect to limit its size? This is like putting a 400 pound person on a diet by letting them eat the very things that made them fat.
In 2000 federal tax receipts amounted to nearly $1.8 trillion. The amount in 2010 exceeded $2.1 trillion, which is nearly a 17% increase over the decade. According to Mr. Cain the right size for government is bigger than it was 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 or 100 years ago. Apparently Cain and his supporters are satisfied with the level of federal intrusion in this country and around the world. What happens when the economy grows? The government brings in more tax money and increases its bureaucracy, which means even more intrusion.
This is the problem with many flat tax proposals floating around. They all premise the virtue of the various plans in that government receives more money. I would personally endorse a national sales tax plan with the preface that all other taxation is eliminated and a receipt cap is placed on the federal government plus restrict the ability of Washington D.C. to borrow money. For example, a national sales tax of 15% is placed on all goods, which allows an individual to keep all of their income up front and then decide how they want to be taxed. Once the federal coffers reach $500 billion the sales tax is suspended until the beginning of the next fiscal year.
You cannot have limited government if you do not limit the flow of funds into the Treasury or limit the amount on the credit card. Herman Cain’s math is a little conflicted along with his idea of smaller government.
No Debt Amendment
Posted by: | CommentsThomas Jefferson, in a letter written to John Taylor in 1798, urged the avoidance of public debt.
“I wish it were possible to obtain a single amendment to our Constitution. I would be willing to depend on that alone for the reduction of the administration of our government to the general principles of the constitution: I mean an additional article taking from the Federal Government the power of borrowing.”
One thing in common that the Boehner Plan or Reid Plan or the much heralded Cut, Cap, and Balance have is that none of the proposals cut one red cent from the federal budget. As I pointed out the other week with help from the Cato Institute, all the so-called cuts in spending come from future base line expenditures. The projections call for government spending to increase by 7% annually or double over the next ten years. A 2.5 trillion dollar snip to the base line over the next ten years results in a federal budget in excess of $5 trillion, which means the national debt by some estimates will climb to over $20 trillion.
A budget-balance amendment does nothing to shrink the debt since it only dictates that fiscal year government spending equals the takings. In addition a balance-budget amendment says nothing whether specific areas of federal spending are constitutional or if so, the spending is effective toward accomplishing the intended goal. This should be the real issue in the debate over raising the debt ceiling.
The only true way to cut government spending and the exploding national debt is through an amendment that does not allow government to borrow in the first place. If this was now the case, then Congress would be forced to choose between slashing spending by 40% or raising tax collections over 70&, which would not happen as the economy grounded to a complete stop.
It is easy for politicians to play Santa Claus when they can steal from the piggy banks of children and those yet to be born.
Smoke and Mirrors
Posted by: | CommentsAs a few of us have pointed out, the federal budget talks that include the Ryan Plan take what amounts to a giant leap of faith. The national government currently spends annually around $1.4 trillion more than what it takes in taxes and fees. Projections over the next ten years show the present national debt of $14.475 trillion growing to over $20 trillion by the end of the decade.
Even the most aggressive spending reduction plans seem to fall woefully short of balancing the budget let alone reducing the size of the debt. A $2 trillion cut over the next 10 years still results in $5.5 trillion of projected government spending for the year 2021. The government currently takes in less than $2.5 trillon. In order to have a balanced budget that would mean federal tax receipts would have to more than double.
Cato Institute Video on the Budget Illusion
How could that possibly happen?
What’s a Trillion
Posted by: | Comments1 million seconds = 12 days
1 billion seconds = 32 years
1 trillion seconds = 32,000 years
National Debt = $14 Trillion
Using the analogy above that debt would be:
4,480 Centuries or 6054 life times.
____________
Ryan calls for ~9 trillion in debt ceiling increase.
Posted by: | CommentsFolks, if you thought the GOP was pushing to NOT raise the debt ceiling you would be both wrong and naive. As I pointed out in my previous post, Paul Ryan had already stipulated this way back in January. Little Chuckie Schumer thought he was being cute this week by intimating that just last week the GOP had gone down this road. Chuckles needs to do some fact checking, or come out here OTBL for real enlightenment!
Now I have some numbers to compare to my estimate of 2.5 to 5.0 trillion. Of course, I was talking about this next year assuming that would be the end of it for the foreseeable future. Below are the Ryan numbers right out of the proposed legislation he is running around Wisconsin advertising..
My admonition regarding taking him seriously as a bold fiscal conservative stands. I see no long term commitment whatsoever to reducing (reforming) the size of government at the federal level.
Here is a portion of the actual text. You can look at the whole plastic bananna budget proposal here. Please note that I have added in parenthesis the annual increase.. All told, Ryan’s plan increases the debt limit just shy of 9 trillion dollars in 10 years..
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Establishing the budget for the United States Government
for fiscal year 2012 and setting forth appropriate budgetary
levels for fiscal years 2013 through 2021.
(5) DEBT SUBJECT TO LIMIT.—Pursuant to
23 section 301(a)(5) of the Congressional Budget Act
24 of 1974, the appropriate levels of the public debt are
25 as follows:
1 Fiscal year 2012: $16,204,000,000,000….(+ 1.9 trillion
2 Fiscal year 2013: $17,177,000,000,000….(+ .973 trillion
3 Fiscal year 2014: $17,955,000,000,000….(+ .778 trillion
4 Fiscal year 2015: $18,704,000,000,000….(+ .749 trillion
5 Fiscal year 2016: $19,513,000,000,000….(+ .809 trillion
6 Fiscal year 2017: $20,257,000,000,000….(+ .744 trillion
7 Fiscal year 2018: $20,981,000,000,000….(+. 724 trillion
8 Fiscal year 2019: $21,711,000,000,000….(+ .730 trillion
9 Fiscal year 2020: $22,416,000,000,000….(+ .705 trillion
10 Fiscal year 2021: $23,105,000,000,000…(+ .689 trillion
In all fairness to Rep Ryan, I understand why this is in here. He is doing this so as to inoculate himself and the GOP from hysterical criticism for not compromising towards the Democrat’s overt statist position. However, and this is the troubling part for me, Mr. Ryan also caved in on the whole bailout bash not all that long ago.
This has become his unfortunate trademark now, he talks a fiscally conservative line (and even issues copies of Atlas Shrugged to his staff) , but clearly isn’t crafting legislation in concert with either. Compromise toward what he ought to (and I suspect he does) understand is evil is not leadership, it is foolish. Our personal interests (values if you will) are not advanced for the long run by going down this path!! In fact, it is a clear and present detriment towards the attainment of long run, rational values – all of it enforced at the proverbial point of a gun. That is evil.
Still Not Enough
Posted by: | CommentsCongressman Paul Ryan introduced a proposal that would cut the Federal budget in excess of $4 trillion over the next ten years. Considering the projected budgets running through 2019 expect to run a cumulative deficit of nearly $10 trillion, the Ryan plan does nothing to stop the sea of red ink pouring out from the federal government. Though a good start, four trillion in cuts is still not enough.
As I pointed out the other week, spending cuts from proposed budgets need to be at least two trillion dollars in order to decrease the debt. Based on estimates, though I find it foolish to predict anything for more than a day, the Ryan proposal adds $6 trillion on to a debt that presently stands near $15 trillion.
If the Republicans cannot even muster the courage to eliminate $100 billion of spending out $3.7 trillion, then why should anyone believe they can reduce spending by $400 billion a year.
The report by Stephen Moore mentioned in my Sunday Snippet points out the hopelessness of the situation. Anyone with any guts would follow the towncrier’s advice and just shut the whole government down forever.
CBO: Obama policies = $9.5 trillion of deficits through 2021!
Posted by: | CommentsOf course, this ought not surprise anyone.. Moreover, the full analysis on the Health Care law is not completed.
Pension Time Bomb Fuse Getting Shorter
Posted by: | Comments
Pension liability to the taxpayers not only in Wisconsin, but the whole nation is a ticking time bomb that is on the verge of detonating. For some reason states don’t have to use the same accounting standards the private sector does. In fact, you’ll find that the accounting practices are the core of the unfunded liability crisis we now have. Most of the pension liabilities are off the books so the average taxpayer is unaware of it.
When using standard accounting rules the private sector has to use you will find the state of Illinois has an unfunded liability of 3 Trillion dollars! When Illinois runs out of money, who is going to fund them? Well folks, it’s going to be your wallet, your children’s wallets, and your grand children’s wallets. Right now, every last single man, women, and child in the state of Illinois is on the hook for over $225,000 dollars each! This figure will continue to grow unless drastic reform is taken. Even then, it’s probably too late. Granted, Illinois is one of the worse, but what is it in your state? How much are you on the hook for?
10.6 Million a Day Down the $hitter
Posted by: | CommentsFrom Pajamas Media comes:
Seems everyone is talking about the massive United States federal deficit and how it has now reached an unfathomable $14 trillion. Is there any way to comprehend such a bloated number? Try this: the speed of light is 186,000 miles per second. At that speed a photon of light starts at the surface of the Sun and reaches the Earth in 8 minutes. On Star Trek, the speed of light is warp one — at that speed the Enterprise would travel about 6 trillion miles in one year. If each dollar of the deficit is represented by one mile, it would take the Enterprise more than two years traveling the speed of light to go 14 trillion miles.
So what can we cut out of the federal budget to make any kind of dent in this enormous pile of borrowed money? We could start with the vast sums of cash being wasted on climate change research.
See How Much of Your Money Wasted on ‘Climate Change’? Try $10.6 Million a Day
Paul asks the $3 trillion dollar question, again…
Posted by: | CommentsHappy 20th Hubble!
Posted by: | CommentsHubble turns 20 today, and for its own birthday it gives us this very cool video.. Look Ma, it’s the Carina Nebula!!
FYI, if you go to an Imax theater you can see a stunning presentation that includes this recently released image.
Very very cool..
After watching this at a local Imax, I did a little research about the Carina Nebula, which is in our Milky Way galaxy, roughly 7500 light years away..
Since light travels at approximately 186,000 miles per second (around the earth 7.75 times per second), this video captures a nebulae that, while in our own galaxy, is still roughly 44 quadrillion miles away from earth. Seem big? Get this: our galaxy is disk shaped, and roughly 110,000 light years from tip to tail, and roughly 10,000 light years from top to bottom, with a thickness bulge of about 2,500 light years.
If you care to run the numbers in your own spreadsheet as I did, you too will discover that we’re talking 645 quadrillion miles across, 59 quadrillion miles wide, and about 15 quadrillion miles at its thickest point…
As far as we know, today, there are roughly 300 billion stars in our little galaxy. And just to add a touch of context here, there are (currently estimated, and growing) approximately 200 billion galaxies in the universe.
I won’t bother with running more mind-numbing numbers, but we here are such a profoundly minuscule spec that the answer to the question of whether there is “life” somewhere else in the universe is just as profoundly YES. In fact, the odds are about as close to absolute certainty as one can get… And this realization ought to give way to a huge thank you to the many astronomers, philosophers, physicists, and other scientists including, but certainly not limited to: Aristotle, Copernicus, Galileo, Keplar, Newton, Einstein, and Edwin Hubble…
You Can’t Be Serious
Posted by: Henry Patrick | Comments (0)Paul Ryan and the House Republicans announced budget cuts for the current year that amount to $32 billion. Perhaps my math is a little rusty, but does anyone seriously think this scant amount of spending reduction makes a difference when talking about a fiscal deficit of $1.5 trillion. This is on top of total debt in the range of $14 trillion or 100%of GDP. Trying to fend off criticism, Republicans said the proposal was a good start.
Gutless
The CBO hypothesizes that a spending freeze along with a projected increase in tax receipts of 7% over the next decade will result in a balance budget in three years. Of course we know the reliability of government projections.
If the truth be known, the debt has already cascaded well over the precipice and the economic die has been cast. If Congressman Ryan and the rest of the Republicans have doubts where to slash spending, then maybe they should defer to the Constitution. I am positive they can find a treasure chest of federal programs to eliminate.
Kentucky Senator Rand Paul and Fox commentator John Stossel located hundreds of billions in spending cuts. Remember also, budget figures exclude Social Security, which means the debt and projected deficits are far worse than what the politicians portray.
Rand Paul
Stossel