As the song Low Sparks of High-Heeled Boys says:
The percentage you’re paying is too high priced
While you’re living beyond all your means
And the man in the suit has just bought a new car
From the profit he’s made on your dreams
And so it goes with the American economy.
On March 4, CNBC reported, “The debt load of the U.S. is growing at a quicker clip in recent months, increasing about $1 trillion nearly every 100 days.
“The nation’s debt permanently crossed over to $34 trillion on Jan. 4, after briefly crossing the mark on Dec. 29, according to data from the U.S. Department of the Treasury. It reached $33 trillion on Sept. 15, 2023, and $32 trillion on June 15, 2023, hitting this accelerated pace. Before that, the $1 trillion move higher from $31 trillion took about eight months.
“U.S. debt, which is the amount of money the federal government borrows to cover operating expenses, now stands at nearly $34.4 trillion, as of Wednesday. Bank of America investment strategist Michael Hartnett believes the 100-day pattern will remain intact with the move from $34 trillion to $35 trillion.”
A trillion every 100 days is $3,650,000,000,000 a year — or 14.6% of our $25 trillion economy.
Manufacturing is 10.3% of our economy.
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The amount of money FJB is borrowing to give the appearance of economic growth is greater than the value of all the steel, all the automobiles, all the airplanes, all the gadgets, and all the other doohickeys Americans make.
This has fueled inflation, has it not? And while the government is not running out of money, the citizens are. When they run out of money, businesses suffer.
CNBC reported, “Apple announces largest-ever $110 billion share buyback as iPhone sales drop 10%.”
Sales dropped 10%. The company seems relieved that the drop wasn’t deeper. The buyback keeps the stock prices up and that is all that matters.
Axios reported, “Americans cash out of sustainable funds.”
This situation is unsustainable.
CNBC reported, “Long-predicted consumer pullback finally hits restaurants like Starbucks, KFC and McDonald’s.”
The story said, “Many restaurant companies also offered other reasons for their weak results this quarter. Starbucks said bad weather dragged its same-store sales lower. Yum Brands, the parent company of Pizza Hut, KFC and Taco Bell, blamed January’s snowstorms and tough comparisons to a strong first quarter last year for its brands’ poor performance.
“But those excuses don’t fully explain the weak quarterly results. Instead, it looks like the competition for a smaller pool of customers has grown fiercer as the diners still looking to buy a burger or cold brew become pickier with their cash.”
$20 an hour wages also have slowed service as restaurants reduce staff. And FJB’s resurrection of inflation through his borrowing madness has prices soaring.
Slower service, higher prices, fewer customers. If that doesn’t close the joint, just send Democrat thugs to beat up the staff a few times and arrest anyone who dares to fight back.
The story said, “The cost of eating out at quick-service restaurants has climbed faster than that of eating at home. Prices for limited-service restaurants rose 5% in March compared with the year-ago period, while prices for groceries have been increasing more slowly, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.”
The question is, how long can this last?
Surprisingly long. While the national debt was just 110% two years ago, Japan’s was 214%. We’re like the Ottoman Empire in its last few centuries, fat and lazy and living on past glory. The borrowing will continue in order to keep the present regime in power. Of course, the Ottomans kept getting their ass kicked in war upon war.
And FJB’s borrowing seems to be speeding up the decline and death of our civilization.
The New York Post reported, “Google fired approximately 200 employees and relocated some of the jobs overseas — the latest sign of a long-running effort by the Big Tech firm to cut costs and restructure itself.
The job cuts — announced internally on the eve of Google’s blowout first-quarter earnings report — targeted members of Google’s core team, which works on the ‘technical foundation behind the company’s flagship products’ as well as the online safety of users and its global IT infrastructure, according to its website.
“At least 50 of the roles were based at Google’s headquarters in Sunnyvale, Calif. Google is expected to hire replacement workers for the roles in Mexico and India, CNBC reported, citing a review of internal documents.”
Google has been living off innovations it made in the Clinton administration for the last quarter-century. The only product improvements it has made was in censorship.
Speaking of which, Google Ad Sense sent out this missive to its partners who post Google ads on their websites.
In May 2024, Google will update the Sexually Explicit Content policy to address synthetic sexually explicit content.
The policy will be updated to specify that we do not allow promoting the creation or distribution of content that has been synthetically altered or generated to be sexually explicit or contain nudity.
In addition, we have made an editorial update to the Spam Policies for Google web search.
This message is a notification to inform you about an update to our policies. No action is needed from you at this time.
It is nice of Google to protect all those real-life porn whores from competition from the artificial ones. Instead of cleansing the Internet of misinformation that is not government approved, why doesn’t Google go after all the porn?
But I have once again dragged myself off topic, which is the eventual bankrupting of America financially. Annual federal revenues are at an all time high of just under $5 trillion — $4,900,000,000,000 in 2022 — and yet we are borrowing a record $3.65 trillion — $3,650,000,000,000 — each year.
The more we pay, the more they borrow, so why not just borrow the whole thing? Just print more money. Sure. It’s irresponsible, of course, but the debt ceiling rises without anyone being held accountable; in fact, the media reports not raising our credit limit as a bad thing that would shut teh government down.
Nobody cares.
Oh, that fussbudget Warren Buffett wants taxes doubled or whatever to pay down the debt. He said, “I think higher taxes are likely. They may decide that some day they don’t want the fiscal deficit to be this large because that has some important consequences. So they may not want to decrease spending and they may decide they’ll take a larger percentage of what we own, and we’ll pay it.”
The thought of reducing federal spending never enters his mind. Why should it? His company holds an awful large piece of government debt. CNBC reported, “Berkshire Hathaway operating earnings soar 39% as Buffett’s cash hoard swells to record $188 billion.”
He traded in the company’s Apple holdings and loaned the money to the government. His corporate earnings are up, up and away. Remember the song that went smoke, smoke, smoke that cigarette? His song is spend, spend, spend that deficit.
The reason the federal government keeps taxing people is to control them. High taxes on cigarettes are there to discourage people from smoking. High taxes on income are — well you know the answer.
We are like the boys in that long ago band, living beyond all our means.
At the least we should be getting better music for our debt.
And no taxes. None whatsoever.
This article first appeared on Don Surber’s Substack. Reprinted here with permission.
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