As the United States government enters the second day following the sequestration deadline, former Congressman and liberty activist Ron Paul acknowledged on March 3 that despite the month long political show over forced spending cuts, the government has no intention of taking their fiscal crisis seriously.
Despite the alarm over cuts that are not real cuts, it is clear that the US government is not serious at all about changing its ways. In a recent tour of the Middle East, newly-confirmed Secretary of State John Kerry announced that the US would be sending another $60 million to the rebels seeking to overthrow the Syrian government – in the midst of the sequester “crisis”!
Despite the rhetoric, there appears no intention on the part of the government to take our fiscal crisis seriously or abandon the idea that we should run the rest of the world. - Ron Paul
In fact, the whole manufactured crisis over sequestration was immediately erased on Feb. 28 when government borrowing soared by $80 billion, bringing the national debt total to $16.687 trillion. This new borrowing is nearly identical to the mandatory $85 billion in spending cuts expected to take place over the 2013 fiscal year.
Even though $85 billion dollars in cuts is only 2.3% of the entire budget, the political rhetoric exhibited by not only President Obama and Congress, but by agency heads such as Leon Panetta this past month, validates Ron Paul's assertion that the government as a whole has little or no intention of dealing with their fiscal house, and working towards balancing their budget.
Since sequestration only deals with discretionary spending items, and does not touch the overwhelming mandatory budget that includes medicare, social security, and welfare programs, the end result will accomplish little even if the legislated $1.2 trillion forced cuts over 10 years is implemented. As of the end of fiscal year 2012, government revenues are no longer enough to cover just mandatory budget expenditures, and all discretionary spending at this moment is being done through borrowed money and debt.
There is little expectation, especially after the month long Kabuki theater from both Congress and President Obama, that the government truly wants to cut spending and stop wasting taxpayer money. In this, Ron Paul is extremely accurate in pointing out that even when the threat of forced budget cuts were hanging over the government due to the debt ceiling compromise of 2011, agencies and legislators alike performed business as usual by spending as they saw fit, and by increasing the national debt by more than $100 billion.
You can also follow Ken Schortgen Jr on Twitter, and listen to the weekly economic roundup segment of the Angel Clark radio show from 6-7 p.m. EST on Friday evenings.
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