Listening to the President’s speech in New Orleans last week , my first reaction was “Where the hell does he plan on getting all that money?” $200,000,000,000? Even for the United States of Deficit Spending, that is some major cash.
With the appearance on the scene of Hurricane Rita, you know that number is going to swell rather dramatically. The combined bill is going to be gargantuan–and there’s still 2 months of hurricane season yet. Who knows how much higher it will go.
I’m not the only person who’s worried about this. Folks I talk with are all in “hang onto your wallet” mode. We know what’s coming, and we don’t like it. However, our Compassionate Conservative in Chief has said “We’ll do what ever it takes” and he means it. Fall in and be a good Republican.
Peggy Noonan has a very interesting view of this situation. To me, the nugget is this:
Money is power. More moneyfor the federal government and usedby the federal government is morepower for the federal government. Is this good? Is this what energy in the executive is–“Here’s a check”? Are the philosophical differences between the two major parties coming down, in terms of spending, to “Who’s your daddy? He’s not your daddy, I’m your daddy.” Do we want this? Do our kids? Is it safe? Is it, in its own way, a national security issue?
The answer, dear Peggy, is yes, it’s a national security issue. When we’re so far in debt that the majority of the Federal budget is soaked up in debt service, we’re going to find out the hard way that the creditors call the shots. At that point, we’ll face the decision to either pay up or simply renounce the debt. Neither of these will be easy for us to survive as a country.
I won’t even go into the dangers of the growing power of the Federal government. We’ve seen our freedoms curtailed more since 9/11 than in the entire preceding century. This trend shows no sign of slowing down.
If I were an investment advisor, I’d be advising my clients to stock up on food, firearms and precious metals. The collapse of the United States will be an epic moment in history, and you want to live to see what happens after.