One of the reasons often cited by people for owning firearms is to prepare for civil unrest. Some think civil unrest will come from political strife, others fear the Chinese or Russians. I think it will take the form of financial collapse.
This is an interesting (more like horrifying) graphic chart of the financial hole the US finds itself in.
It shows the money coming in – total annual revenues of about $4.9 TRILLION – and money going out – total annual spending of $6.8 TRILLION. That means that every year going forward if nothing changes, government will print/borrow $1.8 TRILLION every year to add to the already massive national debt of more than $36 TRILLION.
Just servicing the interest on the debt costs $878 Billion every year. That’s more than is spent on national defense ($877 Billion), Medicare ($874 Billion) and every other spending category. The only expense greater than interest on the debt is social security spending ($1.5 TRILLION).
Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 vests responsibility for spending, debt and taxes on Congress – the people we all elect to represent us (and who rarely get kicked out of office):
The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States
Inflation is the day-to-day economic cost of devaluing the currency. Currently, it is running around 3% each year and growing. It will grow more as imported goods are subject to tariffs.
Broadly speaking, there are five policy options (none of them are good):
Do nothing, continue as is and wait for a bout of hyperinflation like the post WWI Weimar Republic or present-day Venezuela to sort things out. Venezuelan hyperinflation sent millions of its citizens fleeing elsewhere where life is livable. If hyperinflation strikes the US, where could US citizens flee?
Hope that the economy will grow by more than the debt. Good luck with that. During the last Trump administration, the national debt grew around 40%, from $20 TRILLION to $28 TRILLION. But this time will be different, right?
Raise taxes (to include tariffs) to grow revenues. Good luck with that. Government would have to nearly double individual income taxes to cover the current annual debt accumulation. You may recall that in 2013 or so, when Cyprus struggled to raise only $7.6 billion to bail out its over-extended government it seriously considered simply seizing 10% of people’s bank accounts to raise money.
Reduce spending to closer match revenues. Good luck with that. All the big spending categories are political sacred cows – defense, social security, Medicare.
Default on the debt and require holders of US debt to take a financial haircut. That would instantly and dramatically increase the cost of borrowing/debt as US Treasuries would no longer be considered riskless investments.
I’ll say it again, Social Security IS NOT Spending. It is money that has been taken from all of us that work for a living. They took the money, they said they’d keep it until we reached a certain age, an age that continues to move. They took it and they used it in places OTHER THAN where it was taken for. They screwed us and now they tell us we need to bite the bullet, for our own good, accept less, wait longer etc.
As Mark above eluded to, SS is our money, like a bank account used for savings. It belongs to no one other than the person contributing or their heirs. It should be invested in American companies in the stock market etc. If properly invested it would be in a surplus category now. No one, and I mean no one, should be able to get a dime until they reach the required age, and that only after having made the necessary contributions. Sorry, but not a dime for hardships or anything else beyond what the person has contributed + accrued interest. This is not an insurance policy. Same for Medicare. No one, until having paid in, and reaching retirement age, should get a dime of benefits. What is also needed immediately is a balanced budget constitutional amendment, with a provision that not a penny leaves the US for any reason. American taxes stay in America, no exception. If anyone thinks there are worthy recipients, start a go fund me and give based on donations, but keep your freaking hands off my tax money.
And when you finally start collecting, the cost of living increases don’t come close to keeping up with inflation so you get short changed all the way to the grave.
The reason being, when they do a cola at the end of the year, if one is on medicare, medicare will increase by that %. Medicare sets the standards I believe for all the other health insurance companies.
My ss check decreased as did the wife’s. We hit 65 and now pay that mandatory Medicare bill. Something we don’t use. I wish the govt would allow more health related items to be bought with hsa funds. We spend several hundred dollars a month in vitamins and supplements and eat organic as much as we can. Government would rather have you drugged.
Fwiw looking at people mentioned paying in. My number is $396,000 paid in, half me, half employers; started in 1976, summer job, retired Bidens first day as chief potato head at 61. Hit up SS at 62, get $2100/mo.
Big pharma has the politicians in their pocket. Fat dumb befuddled and surviving on their poison is right where they want you.
RFK: “If we just gave good food, three meals a day, to every man, woman and child in our country, we could solve the obesity and diabetes epidemic overnight,”
Yes indeed folks, stay off pharma’s snake oil solutions like Ozempic. Try healthier methods like your free will. There’s also cocaine. Cocaine is the most effective weight loss drug I’ve ever tried - you just gotta remember to jump off the train before the conductor locks the doors.
I feel your pain. Im retired military and have tricare. Messed-up my back and had to take SSD. Once my claim got approved they informed me that I had to enroll in Medicare or I would lose my Tricare. Now I’m also a disabled Veteran and they pretty much take care of everything. Because I’m still drawing SSD I have stay on Medicare that I’m paying money into in which I do not use because the VA takes care of everything. In nut shell, its a catch 22.
I’m in my 60’s and was hear the same thing about SS when growing up and I’m collecting mine now. It has been missed used and stolen from but it is still around paying off.