Mac-Coleman

14 June 2014 - 

The Strategic Picture - Part One

Before commenting on the last fortnight of international developments, a short review of the largest threats to our sovereignty is in order. 

The following, in priority order, are the three major strategic threats to U.S. sovereignty.  It is well within our capabilities as a nation to resolve these threats, but we refuse to do so.  1) The huge national debt, created by profligate government spending, erodes our sovereign ability to act without bowing to the lenders’ self-serving influence.  2) Illegal immigration erodes our sovereign ability to defend our borders and to determine who is and is not an American.  3) The reliance of the United States on foreign sources of energy, particularly on those from Muslim states that use their receipts to fund the latest campaign in a 1300-year war between Islamic and Western Christian Civilization, erodes our ability to decisively stop all who threaten U.S. interests.        

I want to focus on the most dangerous threat.  According to FactCheck.org, these are the overall U.S.’s 2014 economy, debt, and budget numbers.  They should scare you. 

Total US economy: $17. 5 Trillion.  Total Federal debt: $17.7 trillion.  We owe more than we make, and our debt is increasing in FY 2014 by another $744 billion to $18.5 trillion.  How far would your personal “full faith and credit” influence a loan officer if you owed more credit card debt than your yearly income?  By the way, a trillion is a one followed by twelve zeros: 1,000,000,000,000.  This ain’t Monopoly money! 

Federal Tax Receipts:  $3 trillion.  Income Taxes – 46%.  Payroll Taxes (Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid) – 34%.  Corporate Taxes – 11%.  Excise, Customs, and Miscellaneous Taxes – 9%.  We are collecting more revenue than ever before, but are spending even more.  Revenue is not the issue; spending is.    

Federal Spending: $3.77 trillion.  Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid – 42%.  Defense – 20%.  Interest on the National Debt – 6%.  Everything else – 32%.  Hmm, even this French Literature major sees the big gap between income and outgo, particularly in Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid.  They account for 34% of total receipts but 42% of total spending.  In actual dollars, our payroll taxes take in just over one trillion dollars, but the programs they support spend $1.58 trillion.  That deficit of $580 billion accounts for over 75% of FY 2014’s total federal budget deficit of $744 billion.  We must reform the entitlement programs, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, or they will bankrupt us, no matter how we parse the rest of our revenues. 

Our Creditors.  We owe $17.741 trillion to the following:  Social Security Trust Fund – 16%; foreign countries – 34%; Federal Reserve and other federal government agencies – 25%; mutual funds, other funds, state and local governments – 23%. 

Not only have we seriously underfunded Social Security spending, but we also have looted over 2.8 trillion dollars from its trust fund to pay other bills.  That is like borrowing against your retirement fund to pay utilities, car payments, credit card interest, and lawn care, because you don’t earn enough money to live the way you feel you are entitled to.      

We owe $6 trillion to foreign countries, including well over $1 trillion to both Japan and China.  If such borrowing continues, who will control strategic negotiations in an international crisis, the debtor or the banker? 

We owe nearly $4.5 trillion, 29% of our total debt, to the Federal Reserve and other government agencies.  Not only have we gutted our Social Security program and gone with hat-in-hand to the world to pay our bills, but we also have printed tons of extra greenbacks to pay for our wastrel lifestyle.  Isn’t printing extra money to pay bills a primary cause of inflation?  Could there be such a thing as a $1 trillion bill?  Yup.  I bought one in Zimbabwe in 2010 for $2 U.S., and I think I paid the tourist price. 

Accumulating such debt is a classic definition of the loss of national sovereignty.  Debt may be necessary in a crisis, but paying off credit cards before interest charges kick in is what responsible, prudent, wise grown-ups do.  It is what true leaders do.  Spending more than one earns year after year after year after year is what oppressive, third-world dictators and self-serving socialists do.  To satisfy the masses, such leaders define giveaways as “entitlements”, something citizens—or illegal immigrants—deserve rather than earn.  Such leaders destroy short-term gain rather than build for long-term security.  Today, our incredible debt and profligate spending are the number one strategic threat to the sovereignty of the United States. 

Soon to follow are the effects of strategic threat #2, illegal immigration, on U.S. sovereignty.  Comments directed to mac.coleman.colonel@gmail.com.