There ought to be a law that the United States send to every citizen a copy of the US budget and actual spending by the Federal Government. Fortunately, private enterprise does give us a picture of how well our country is doing financially. It’s the US Debt Clock.
It would behoove every American to learn how much money the federal government takes in and spends. The US budget is not what is actually spent. This is revealed in US DEBT CLOCK data. And not all data presented at US DEBT CLOCK is accurate. Official data regarding unemployment released by the Bureau of Labor Standards should be disregarded. Unemployment is rampant and has serious repercussions on the funding of federal programs (Social Security/Medicare) that rely on FICA payroll deductions.
I’m sure most members of Congress don’t fully understand the dire financial predicament the country is in at the present time. Neither does its citizenry.
Fortunately, via the internet and thanks to private enterprise, we have the opportunity to view our country’s financial status on a single printed page or web page. We direct you to the US Debt Clock.
The data in this report is for the fiscal year (not calendar year), tabulated on May 27, 2021. The entire fiscal year runs from October 1 of the budget’s prior year through September 30 of the year being described. For example: FY 2021 is between October 1, 2020 and September 30, 2021.
The CLOCK provides running totals of collections and payments by the federal government in real time. It is graphically organized into green boxes that indicate INCOME/ASSETS and red boxes that indicate EXPENSES and future financial obligations (outlays).
We are going to hold your hand and take you through the US Debt Clock step by step. Here is what we learn from the US Debt Clock.
In the past ten years US federal tax revenues have jumped by a trillion dollars.
The United States has collected almost $3.5 trillion dollars so far, this fiscal year. Tax receipts for the fiscal year are projected to be $3.86 trillion. But it appears, at the current rate of tax collections, federal tax revenues will actually exceed $4 trillion.
President Trump’s proposed budget for 2021 was $4.8 trillion. President Biden is pitching for a $6.1 trillion budget. However, actual spending far exceeds even these outrageous target numbers, as you will learn below. This is in a pandemic-stressed economy where trillions of borrowed dollars are being thrust into the economy.
Federal spending will surpass $7 trillion/in fiscal year 2021. Last year 2020 there were $6.55 trillion of outlays. This fiscal year outlays have already exceeded last year’s spending.
Obviously there is a big difference between what is budgeted and what is spent. Budget projections for FY 2021 were $3.5 trillion in revenues, $5.8 trillion in outlays and a deficit of $2.3 trillion (Congressional Budget Office).
You might ask, if tax revenues exceed $4 trillion and actual spending exceeds $7 trillion, where does that extra $2+ trillion dollars come from to balance revenue with spending?
The US borrows some the difference and pays ~2% interest. It does this by offering IOUs in the form of US Treasury Notes.
The US’s penchant to grow its economy with borrowed money has led to the accumulated national debt of $28 trillion and counting. Twenty-six percent (26%) of this debt, or $7.28 trillion, is intragovernmental debt that the US owes to itself. So interest is being paid on about $21 trillion to holders of US Treasury Bills.
Out of this $28 trillion, ~$7 trillion is owed to foreign countries (See below).
Interest rates
The United States pays 2% interest on this $21+ trillion of debt, or about $400 billion so far this year (see below).
In addition to this current debt the US has future liabilities. For example, the US owes $21+ trillion dollars for future Social Security and $32+ trillion in future Medicare payments.
The admission that some of the money for Social Security and Medicare now come out of the general fund indicates the trust funds for these programs are partially depleted. Only the bi-weekly deductions from paychecks (FICA payments) repletes these trust funds.
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