The Joke Where No One Laughs

The joke where no one laughs, the comedy that's not funny is taking place inside the beltway and is being played in prime time by the national media.

Apparently, a "cut" of $ 54B of planned expenditures is going to cost is 2.4M jobs and a point of GDP. It is going to render the military incapable of defending the country. Food inspection will cease threatening our food supply. The FAA is going to close towers snarling air travel. Head-Start (which should have been cut decades ago) will be defunded, Federal free-lunch programs will be sacked, and apparently education will grind to a halt. Wow! Who knew the ferderal government could do so much with a paltry $ 54B. I wonder what they do with the rest of the $ 3.75T they spend?

Here is the reality. In 2007, federal spending was $ 2.7T. In 2013, federal spending will top $ 3.8T. The US population in 2007 was 301 million souls. In 2013 the US population is estimated to be 313 million. So, the population has grown by 4% and budget spending has grown by 40%. That's the problem, and it's no joke. Led by the president and his croanies, the beltway gang has spent us into oblivion. The angst over cutting $ 54B of planned spending would be laughable were it not so over-blown and pathetic.

Unfortunately, absent dramatic change (and increasing taxes on achievement again is not part of the solution) the end of the comedy turns tragic. Absent considerable spending changes, the US economy will collapse. It's going to be a trainwreck. The only question is when. Is it next year, 5 years, or 15 years? I don't know the answer to "when" the collapse will happen, but there is no question about the outcome given our current course and speed.

I know how much Obama worries about his legacy. It is unforunate for all of us that his legacy is going to be the president who dismantled and crushed the greatest economic engine, the greatest creator of wealth the world has ever known. I wonder if they will teach this in federal pre-K?