Category Government Debt out of control

Jun 6 2024

Interest on US National Debt Hits New Record


Posted Jun 6, 2024 By Martin Armstrong

NationalDebtNYCVBillboard

Government spending has consequences. The US national debt has surpassed $34.6 trillion at the time of this writing and continues to grow every minute. America has never been in a deeper deficit. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) has reported that America was forced to pay $514 billion in the first seven months of FY2024 on interest costs alone.

This means that America paid more in servicing its debt than on any other program besides Social Security ($837 billion), which is a separate problem entirely. To put it into perspective, the US shelled out $498 billion on national defense, funding 2.5 wars, during this time. Around $465 billion was spent on Medicare, with an additional $355 billion spend on Medicaid, and neither surpassed the amount paid on simply holding onto debt.

US debt to China Buy Bullets
10 trillion Debt Crisis Default

What can be done when the government refuses to curtail spending? Biden audaciously labeled one of the largest spending packages in the nation’s history the “Inflation Reduction Act,” and expects the people to believe that it has not greatly contributed to the rising costs of goods and services. Every week, Biden signs a new check to Ukraine or a climate change agenda, but no one can stop him from draining the Treasury. Even the Federal Reserve is utterly helpless and can do nothing besides sit back and watch as America spirals down.

Imploding this situation is China’s rightful refusal to purchase US debt. Other central banks see how careless US politicians have become with their spending and question if they ever intend to pay off their growing debt. How could they at this point? No one in Washington has a clue on what to do. Instead, they will continue spending with no concern for the long-term consequences that are inevitable.

Sep 22 2023

US Govt Shutdown Over Ukraine?


Armstrong Economics Blog/Politics Re-Posted Sep 22, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

https://youtube.com/watch?v=0psU3ecVUC0%3Ffeature%3Doembed

It happens every year – the US Congress cannot disagree so they may simply shut down. They’re our public servants but we permit them to throw their hands up and shrug that they cannot work together. One of the hot topic items right now is Ukraine, and with good reason as we are $3.3 trillion in debt but those in charge believe we have unlimited funds for Ukraine.

https://x.com/RandPaul/status/1704485590085812595?s=20

Senator Rand Paul refuses to continually aid Ukraine in the proxy war. “Today I’m putting congressional leadership & @POTUS on notice that I will oppose any effort to hold the federal government hostage for Ukraine funding,” Paul said on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “I will not consent to expedited passage of any spending measure that provides any more US aid to Ukraine.” Rand double-downed on his views in front of his peers, saying, “It’s as if no one has noticed that we have no extra money to send to Ukraine,” he said. “Our deficit this year will exceed $1.5 trillion. Borrowing money from China to send it to Ukraine makes no sense.”

We do not have the money to spend on Ukraine – period. The money funneled to the most corrupt European country comes from US taxpayers. Biden asked for another $24 billion for Ukraine last month. Some Republicans scoffed but there are neocons on both sides who want this war. “When will the aid requests, and when will the war end?” Rand asked the Senate. “Can someone explain what victory in Ukraine looks like? President Biden certainly can’t. His administration has failed to articulate a clear strategy or objective in this war, and Ukraine’s long-awaited counteroffensive has failed to make meaningful gains in the east.” There is no victory for Ukraine. The aftermath will be bloody and expensive, and people on both sides of the fight have declared that this will be a long war.

Republicans are a minority in the Senate. Schumer will do what it takes to push through all of Joe’s reckless spending budgets that he always exceeds. Congress needs to be held accountable. A business couldn’t simply say, “Hey, we do not know what to do. Let’s shutdown operations until we figure it out.” The No Pay for Congress During Default or Shutdown Act introduced by Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), and Abigail Spanberger, (D-VA), that would prevent members of Congress from receiving a paycheck in the event of a shutdown. Imagine that – having to work for your pay! James Lankford (R-PA) introduced a stricter bill dubbed the Prevent Government Shutdowns Act of 2023 that would forbid these politicians from returning home until a final decision is made. There are numerous measures on the table that should be signed into law to prevent lazy government workers from holding the United States hostage.

Let us not forget that America’s credit rating was downgraded by Moody’s because our politicians are incapable of running the country. Smart money has fled the public sector. There is absolutely no confidence in government anymore. The hundreds of billions to Ukraine must stop. One must wonder why government would threaten to shutdown over the topic of funding a foreign unaffiliated nation when the war does not benefit Americans in any way.

Aug 4 2023

US Credit Rating & the Sovereign Debt Crisis


Armstrong Economics Blog/Politics Re-Posted Aug 3, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: What do you make of the US debt downgrade? Do you think this has anything to do with indicting Trump in three courts? I know many people decided to donate to Trump today, even for the first time, as a sign of disapproval of the Biden Administration and the RINOs.

HJ

ANSWER:

It is time for the Credit Rating Agencies to knock off the BS. Yes, Fitch Ratings downgraded US long-term debt late on Tuesday from AAA to AA+, citing this spring’s debt ceiling standoff as a significant reason. That is nonsense. NO government ever intends to pay off its debts. Historically they ALWAYS default. The global financial system has relied on the promise that the US government will always repay its debts. Some wrongly believe that this is what makes the US dollar the most widely held currency worldwide. The backing behind the dollar is twofold.

  1. Largest Consumer-based economy in the world that everyone needs to sell into
  2. The deepest financial market in the world to park money as well as finance projects and float stocks

This is why the US markets barely reacted to the news in after-hours trading on Tuesday, and US Treasuries were holding steady. Of course, you have the traditional bearish prognosticators who claim the last time there was a downgrade, and the market crashed by 6.5%. The real question is – sell stocks, and the traditional flight to quality is you buy bonds – which were just downgraded. Hm? Many are starting to wake up that the only safe place for wealth will be in tangible assets, for this Biden Administration is completely desperate and out of control. You cannot threaten China and Russia with war and then ask them to buy your debt. China is disinvesting in US government debt ASAP. That is also the reason for the downgrade.

These indictments against Trump, while Biden and Hunter actually could be charged with Treason, have undermined the confidence in the United States government internationally more than anything. They are trying to prevent Trump from running in 2024, for the Neocons know they would be fired if not put on trial for treason themselves. Trump vowed to run for office from prison. RFK should join as the VP and abandon the Democrats, for they will NEVER allow him to gain a toe in their Washington club.

Yes, I have gotten many emails saying people are donating to Trump’s 2024 campaign as a matter of protest against this Biden Administration. All I can hope is that even Democrats wake up before it is too late and stop this hate-Trump nonsense, for what lurks in Washington is so much worse. This judge in Washington will put Trump in prison in the blink of an eye. This judge has been handing out time in excess of the prosecutor’s recommendations. That is unheard of.  You are about to witness the complete collapse of the Rule of Law in the United States, and once that goes – it is time to turn out the lights.

The US will eventually descend into civil war at worst, just as China and Russia did when faced with the rise of the LEFT. Some states will separate from this absolutely corrupt government. We cannot rule out the Biden Administration canceling the dollar before the 2024 election, for the Neocons do not care about the economy – only their geopolitical goals. With the Neocons in such a desperate position, they may not wait for the election and connect a dollar cancelation to some geopolitical event. The EU would most likely do the same on a coordinated basis, and both Canada and the UK will follow suit with Japan, Australia, and South Korea.

If the Neocons manufacture a geopolitical conflict before the election, beware of the 2nd quarter next year. That does NOT mean we should lose all hope. You cannot create a new system without purging the old one. Keep your fingers crossed for post-2032, and we get to start anew just as the Founding Fathers overthrew the monarchy and created a new political system.

C

Aug 3 2023

They See It Coming – Fitch Joins S&P to Downgrade USA Credit Rating


Posted originally on the CTH on August 2, 2023 | Sundance 

Collapse is never a sudden occurrence; it is an outcome of gradual erosion over time. A weakening that takes place almost invisible to those who pass through the construct, until eventually, at an uneventful time in the mechanics of history, the process gives way.

Fitch has joined with the prior position of Standard & Poors to downgrade the USA credit rating. The weight of debt, in combination with reverberations from the continued hammering deep inside the political fundamental change operation, has triggered another flare.

In the bigger picture, this is a self-fulfilling prophecy driven by the latest focus on unsustainable economic policy, aka The Green New Deal. The efforts of the fiscal, monetary and economic policy are all aligned to shrink the U.S. economy, thereby creating the era of “sustainable energy” a possibility. Unfortunately, this is akin to a household intentionally shrinking their income while at the same time taking on credit card debt. The process itself is not sustainable.

(Reuters) – Rating agency Fitch on Tuesday downgraded the U.S. government’s top credit rating, a move that drew an angry response from the White House and surprised investors, coming despite the resolution of the debt ceiling crisis two months ago.

Traders’ immediate response was to embark on a safe-haven push out of stocks and into government bonds and the dollar.

Fitch downgraded the United States to AA+ from AAA, citing fiscal deterioration over the next three years and repeated down-the-wire debt ceiling negotiations that threaten the government’s ability to pay its bills.

[…] “In Fitch’s view, there has been a steady deterioration in standards of governance over the last 20 years, including on fiscal and debt matters, notwithstanding the June bipartisan agreement to suspend the debt limit until January 2025,” the rating agency said in a statement.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen disagreed with Fitch’s downgrade, in a statement that called it “arbitrary and based on outdated data.”

[…] In a previous debt ceiling crisis in 2011, Standard & Poor’s cut the top “AAA” rating by one notch a few days after a debt ceiling deal, citing political polarization and insufficient steps to right the nation’s fiscal outlook. Its rating is still “AA-plus” – its second highest.

After that downgrade, U.S. stocks tumbled and the impact of the rating cut was felt across global stock markets, which were in the throes of the euro zone financial meltdown.

In May, Fitch had placed its “AAA” rating of U.S. sovereign debt on watch for a possible downgrade, citing downside risks, including political brinkmanship and a growing debt burden. (read More)

What do Barack Obama and Joe Biden have in common?  They were both in office, executing an identical economic, fiscal and monetary policy, when the USA credit was downgraded.

Jun 25 2023

SUNDAY SPECIAL w/ Ret. Navy SEAL Drago Dzieran and FBI Whistleblower Steve Friend – 06/25/2023


The Dan Bongino Show Posted originally on Rumble on June 9:00 24, 2023

Jun 5 2023

Credit Card Debt on the Rise


Armstrong economics Blog/USA Current Events Re-Posted Jun 5, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Credit card debt in the US spiked to its highest quarterly level in Q4 2022 after increasing by $85.8 billion. The average American household has about $10,000 in credit card debt, marking an 8.9% YoY increase. Now, Americans are facing $1 trillion in credit card debt due to rising APR and inflation.

The Federal Reserve reported that credit card debt has risen by $250 billion over the past two years amid record inflation. Consumer spending declined during the pandemic, as did credit card debt. However, inflation was nowhere close to what it is today. Credit balances declined by $100 billion from Q1 of 2020 to Q2 of 2021. Consumers were paying off their debts during this time, aided by numerous stimulus packages provided by the government.

Everything changed when Biden took office, killed America’s energy independence, and inflation began to spike. The central bank raised rates right before the war in Ukraine broke out, and have continued to do so at every meeting since. Various data collectors noted that consumers are not using their credit cards for luxury goods – they’re using credit to simply get by and pay for essentials.

Bankrate reported that 46% of cardholders cannot pay off their monthly credit card payments, up 7% from last year. The average APR is around 24% as of May 2023. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics claims that the CPI rose 0.4% in April after increasing 0.1% in March. I reported how the true inflation rate is over 30%; they do not want to scare the public by posting the real data. Food, energy, shelter, and all the essentials to survival have reached historic levels. If nearly half of people cannot pay their credit card balances off each month, and interest is at a record high, consumer debt is guaranteed to rise continually. Nothing is more inflationary than war, and our war cycle is picking up going into 2024. So not only is the US government drowning in debt, but the average American is also struggling to make ends meet.