Site icon JONATHAN TURLEY

Debt: $26,003,751,512,344.91 . . . In Case You Are Counting

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Yes, we have reached over $26 trillion in debt and members are demanding more stimulus money.  According to data released yesterday by the Treasury Department, we hit $26,003,751,512,344.91. That is the definition of ballooning and runaway debt but no one seems to be talking about it. We are now a credit card country that believes we can put the entire economy on layaway.

 Just to keep track, we hit $24 trillion for the first time just last April 7, 2020.   We then hit $25 trillion for the first time on May 5. Get the picture?

Once again, this all seem weirdly immaterial to the news or newsmaker, Democrat or Republicans. We are piling on debt that will smother the rising generation, a lost generation facing massive debt and a destroyed global economy.  

Consider that in 2009, debt was 52.3 % of our GDP.  By December 2019, it reached 79.2%. We are now approaching our debt-to-GDP ratio from post–World War II high of 106.1%.

Each new spending bill has a catchy title and a massive unpaid bill.  There was the $2.0 trillion CARES legislation. Then there was the massive $3.0 trillion HEROES Act.  There are new trillion dollar stimuluses as well as demands for approval of programs like a $14 trillion reparations bill.

Politicians love crisis because it allows spending with little scrutiny.  They can spend trillions and kick the debt can down the road for someone else to address. A similar thing happened in states like Illinois with public pensions.  Politicians signed off on larger and larger pensions with teacher unions and other public employees while enjoying ample political endorsements and support. Then the debt ballooned and left the states near bankruptcy.  Yet, voters did not blame these leaders. Indeed, COVID-19 hit and the next round of spending will include bailouts of cities and states.

Recently we discussed how New York de Blasio demanded over $7 trillion and expressed frustration that it had not arrived because Washington is “the only place that prints money.” We could not possibly have any problems by just printing trillions to cover these costs, right? De Blasio is putting the hype back into hyperinflation.

So, we are left with calls for trillions in more spending and politicians declaring “print, baby, print.”  You only have to look from Greece to Zimbabwe to Venezuela to see how this story ends.

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