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Why Do You Have To Live On A Budget But The Government Doesn’t?
By
Brandon Carlson
October 18, 2022
We hear a lot about the national debt, but how is it that Congress can’t get it together enough to balance their own budget? If we have to do it, why shouldn’t they?
Here are Five (marginally) Fast Facts about Congressional overspending:
The Dirty Little Secret - The truth is they want it that way. They use a concept called baseline budgeting, meaning there is a built-in assumption that the budget will go up by a few percent every year. Here’s how it works. Let’s say you have an agency whose budget is projected to grow $100 million next year. They don’t even bother discussing increases for that budget because it grows year over year automatically due to the built-in increases. In the shocking event that the agency only grows by $75 million, the government will pat itself on the back and tell you that it’s actually a $25 million cut (and some pencil pusher will probably be fired for not buying enough office supplies). And this, friends, is how we’ve gotten to a deficit of roughly $3 TRILLION PER YEAR, leading to a total amount of debt of over $30 TRILLION.
Unimaginably Huge - It’s hard to visualize a number this big, but let’s give it a shot just for fun. If you use $100 bills as your measuring unit, here’s how it looks:
And that’s just ONE trillion; our national debt is almost 31 times that much! This is an utter failure by Congress over the years, making the Titanic’s maiden voyage look like a wild success.
Budgeting Back When They Were Responsible - Speaking of the Titanic, Congress is supposed to pass a budget every year. How’s that working out? Well, compared to baseball players and meteorologists, they look…no, actually, they don’t look good compared to anyone. Between 1975 and 1997, both the House and the Senate passed a budget resolution (often late, but they got there eventually) every year.
Budgeting Now - However, since 1997, budgets have only been approved 11 times, and in the last decade a budget has only been passed three times! Congress nowadays just resorts to continuing resolutions, which are temporary bills that fund the government for a shorter period of time.
Isn’t This Illegal?? - Is a budget a Constitutional requirement? No. Is it a legal requirement? Also no. But it does provide a framework that sets guidelines around what Congress is allowed to spend, and that’s why it matters. Having no budget at all means there are no constraints or guidelines on spending. When you put this lack of accountability on top of baseline budgeting, there’s literally no self control whatsoever in Congress when it comes to spending taxpayer dollars…even ones that won’t likely ever become reality. That’s right, compared to Congress, the Kardashians are frugal, penny-pinching spinsters. And the real problem is that Congress’ incompetence (or, more realistically, willful financial failures) is going to level a direct prosperity penalty on all of the rest of us over time, even on generations that haven’t been born yet!
🔥Bottom line: A huge part of the well-being of our financial system depends on other nations trusting that we’ll pay our debts over time. So, at minimum, we need elected leaders who are willing to stop kicking the can down the proverbial road and start getting the insanity under control NOW.
Balancing our national budget is a big step in the right direction. After all, if we have to live on a budget, so can they, right?
Our current elected leaders have proven beyond doubt that they are either unable or unwilling to do that. So, the ultimate solution is to vote in every election – the midterms as well as the presidentials – for representatives who you think will actually follow through on this unsexy but incredibly important issue. It goes from the White House occupant all the way down to your local city council, and it all matters. Don’t suck, vote local!
Guess what? The President does impact the budget...but your local & state government reps contribute (and provide checks and balances), too! Here’s three small things you can do that make a BIG impact:
