Gary Varvel for May 23, 2023

This tired trope has been around, well, forever. Which generation’s “babies” has been crushed by the debts accrued by previous spending?

People investing in the US is a good thing; it allows services to be rendered. If the desire is to address the debt, do it during the normal budget process. Where IS McCarthy’s budget proposal? Maybe the "point " is just the performative politics?

Interest costs in FY 2022 were 35% higher than 2021 – $475 billion. And expected to jump 35% again in 2023.

There’s no way we can kick this can that far down the road. And yes. It will costs the kids far more than dollars. The quality of life will suffer as interest outstrips our ability to pay.

The sticking point being reported is RNC wants to defund much of the VA and end SS COLA’s. Retired military and middle class are the targets.

Its sad cause its true!

The first reality is that with decreased productivity and an aging population tax dollar spending will go up. The second reality is that requires tax increases. I’ll pay 0% taxes on the $32,000 of dividends I’ll get this year, but if the money came from work I’d be taxed. It’s not the only example of why the entire tax system needs to change.

Your cartoon is 4 years and two debt ceilings to late. The time to address this was BEFORE repubs gave their financial backers trillions in tax breaks

Google search the debt clock. You will understand.

Everybody cares about the deficit…well, they care about blaming others for the deficit while aggregating wealth under their control.

Gary could cruise for weeks on this cartoon by simply replacing “National Debt” every day with Global Warming, Health Care Costs, Tax Reform, Alternative Energy Sources, Gun Solutions and on and on and on and on.

What cost $1 in 1923 will cost you almost $31 in 2023 dollars. Since that is a Campbell’s soup can, you’ve been Andy Warhol’d by inflation.

The government is spending more money than ever, and we have more chaos in our cities and at the Border than I have ever seen. My grandchildren are doomed.

When the Republicans have the White House they run up the debt. When Busch 1 began running up the debt, Chaney explained “Reagan has proven that Deficits Don’t Matter". They only become an issue for Republicans when a Democrat is in the White House and the bills need to be paid. I don’t know if it’s a strategy to run them up and then use them as a propaganda tool or if they think that far ahead, but that’s the fact.

Reagan took the deficit from 70 billion to 175 billion.

Bush 41 took it to 300 billion.

Clinton got it to zero.

Bush 43 took it from 0 to 1.2 trillion.

Obama halved it to 600 billion.

Trump got it back to a trillion.

Biden reduced it $350 billion his first year in office. And the budget office expects to see it drop by another 1 trillion, 500 billion dollars – the largest drop ever. This is despite a $1.9 Trillion pandemic relief package. The Republicans screamed about this at the time, but it is credited with funding a faster recovery than anywhere else in the world, and actually decreasing the debt further.

McCarthy didn’t ‘propose’ a budget, the House PASSED a spending reducing, debt ceiling raising bill. Schumer and his majority wild spending Senators COULD pass it TODAY and President Biden could sign it TODAY!

Both sides need to do more. We, not only, need to eliminate our budget deficit, we need to seriously need to pay down our crushing debt.

$2/3 trillion will be spent this year just on interest on the debt, not paying down a penny owed. Our children and their children and children not yet born will have to pay for our frivolities.

Democrats must agree that people receiving welfare, unemployment and SNAP benefits should work. Childcare must be paid by the programs they work for. Republicans must agree to reduce military spending and increase taxes. It will take nothing less than this to get our National finances from crushing us. Nibbling at the edges will not do what’s necessary.

Kick the can. When you’ve spent money you didn’t have since at least the Clinton administration, (remember he had a very small surplus) what do you expect?

Once again: Republicans never EVER mention tax cuts in connection with the deficit.

Worse than that: They somehow believe that tax cuts for the rich and for patriotic multinational corporations will benefit them personally.

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They can never explain, or even acknowledge either statement.

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Deficits and budgets are just more ‘issues’ to weaponize and LIE about.

Greedy Republicans want to stop Food Stamps for hungry families and continue socialist welfare tax breaks for rich people.

This is not a cooperative venture. The extremist controlled house is holding the country hostage over approval of the debt limit. So obvious this is their first step in theft of the SSI, Medicare and Medicaid and VA benefits coffers so they can give more tax cuts to capital gains and corporate profits. All while proposing more military spending. How can these right wing fascist thieves sleep at night?

So if you’re a millennial, why would you vote for this sort of generational thievery? On the Right, there are populists like Trump who are just as good at overspending as the Left, and then there are candidates like Scott and Abbott who show what the party wants to be and can become once again. Is this possible in the face of Trump’s polling? Of course. Bill Clinton, as the progeny of JFK, was polling at less than 2% when he showed up in Iowa.

How about a house proposal for elimination of the SSI cap and equalization of capital gains taxation with that of wages? All tied to raising the debt ceiling. Problem solved, both SSI being solvent for infinity and balancing the budget immediately, without the draconian cuts proposed by the anti-party now in control of the house. Might even be some left over for their military budget increase squealings

You need to raise revenue and cut spending. Both should start at the top.

“Deficit spending means that a government is choosing not to raise taxes today to pay for that spending but is choosing to wait until tomorrow, Faria-e-Castro said.When federal spending exceeds revenue, the difference is a deficit. The government mostly borrows money to make up the difference. The total national debt is an accumulation of federal deficits over time, minus any repayments of debt, among other factors.A big consequence of deficit spending is that the fiscal burden shifts from one generation to the next, Faria-e-Castro said. That’s fine if a country’s economy is growing, because you know that the next generation will, on average, be better off than the current one, and likely able to pay a little more in taxes to decrease the debt, Faria-e-Castro said. But if a country’s economy is slowing and economic growth rates are lower than they used used to be, “this starts becoming a more divisive issue.”” ~ https://www.stlouisfed.org/open-vault/2020/october/debt-gdp-ratio-how-high-too-high-it-depends

According to a new Associated Press poll, only 19% of the public supports Joe Biden’s extreme position of raising the debt limit with no conditions, while 63% of the public supports McCarthy’s position of only raising the debt limit if spending reductions are included. Sixteen percent of the public doesn’t believe we should raise the debt limit at all. Just sayin’.

It is good for this old group of hags to continue to kick the can. They know that eventually their time will be up and will face no consequences for their actions.

When we the last time we ran a surplus? The last two years of the Clinton administration. W and the Republicans said “screw this” and immediately turned it back into a deficit. Biggest deficit growth? Reagan, HW, W, Trump. ‘Nuff said.

So is buying a house with a mortgage kicking the can down the road? For most of history you had to pay cash or rent.

OK, Gary, just how much do you think they should cut the defense budget by?

If they can find $3 billion dollars on an “accounting error” then you can be sure that they can find enough grease in the government to cut to properly raise the debt ceiling without any problems. But Biden prefers extortion and fear over real negotiations. First thing to do is to audit the Pentagon.

The old kick the can game!!