Drunken Sailors

Today’s rambling was inspired by George Will’s column, “Are We Trapped in a Debt Spiral?”* I’ll try to keep this short.

I can’t get away from the old cliché about the spending habits of intoxicated sailors. For us to protect ourselves as we maintain a wide-open spigot for the nanny state, DC is spending us into oblivion. The federal debt monster, according to the babblers in the CBO, will explode from 39% of GDP in 2008 to 96% by 2028. Most likely, it’s worse. In other words, we’re reaching the point of not paying it back. Do the words “Argentina” and “default” have a special meaning?

The National debt is shown behind Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, left, as he makes the semiannual monetary policy report to the House Financial Services Committee, Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2018, in Washington.

How did we get so inebriated? Now there’s a Gordian knot to unravel. My stab at it begins with the practice of labeling defense outlays “discretionary” and that for federal check recipients “mandatory”. It’s a formula for a descent into the deeper circles of Dante’s fiscal inferno.

Who’s to blame? Don’t look any further than the mirror. We chose our representatives and reward them for furthering the insanity. We are comfortable in our fictions. Many of us seem to like a democracy of unelected administrators. Or, how about “fiscal discipline” defined as increasing dependency on the dole while “national security” is construed as Red Chinese-controlled sea lanes? “Contradictio in terminis” (contradiction in terms) anyone?

And come November, we might be getting ready to hand power to a party of people who’ve added dope to the booze. Go figure.

RogerG

* Thanks to “George F. Will: Are we now trapped in a debt spiral?”, George Will, Salt Lake City Tribune/Washington Post, 5/6/2018,  https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2018/05/06/george-f-will-are-we-now-trapped-in-a-debt-spiral/

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