This country has a debt crisis. Yawwwwwwn.

Who the hell cares?  Certainly not our Congress. It keeps juicing up what it spends. Beyond the income that comes into Washington coffers.

Our congressguys remind me of a couple who came to me years ago for financial counseling. They had gone bankrupt twice. And were about to go down a third time.

They were spendthrifts who suffered many problems and shortcomings. A biggie was their psychological state.

They enjoyed excellent income. And their income had risen every year. Money was not a problem. Their attitude toward it was the problem.

When their income rose by 5 percent they increased what they spent. By 7 or 8 percent. They could not resist spending more than they earned.

Congress suffers the same malady. More and more money arrives in Washington. Congress spends all of the increase. And then some. It is the “and then some” that plunges us deeper in debt. When they spend more than they take in they have to borrow more money to cover the difference. They sell more IOUs. Otherwise known as Treasury Bonds.

Pile those bonds up to the sky. That is known as our national debt.

The last few years have seen revenues grow. Extra money has streamed into Washington. Congress has spent it all. And then some.

We saw the same after the Bush II tax cuts increased revenue. We saw it after the Reagan tax cuts increased revenue. Congress found more ways to increase spending beyond the increased revenue.

We did see some discipline when Clinton reigned. When the Soviet empire collapsed we could finally slash defense spending. Clinton was dealt a perfect hand. Big increases in tax revenue from an expanding economy. Less need to spend all those billions on defense.

Since then we have run deficits. Yawwwwwwn.  

President Trump says he will tackle this in his fifth year. Right. Thus far he has shown no backbone. Congress has passed bloated spending bills. Trump has whined. But he has not stood up to the spendthrifts.

Politicians don’t care. Because they will be long-gone when the manure hits the proverbial fan. And they don’t lose sleep over the country’s problem. As long as their district or state or favorite project wins more money, they are happy.

And what if this stupidity leads to a massive financial crisis down the road?  Yawwwwwwwn.  They know that politicians down the road can always raise taxes on the people down the road. Or they can engineer some inflation. Inflated dollars to pay off non-inflated Treasuries?  Yup. That, has been done before.

The pols could solve this problem. They will not.  My bankrupt friends could have avoided a third bankruptcy. They did not.

Congressguys could cut spending across the board tomorrow. Sure they could. They could declare that every government program would be cut by, say, 6 percent. Every program, no exceptions.

Further, they could slap a cap on future spending. The national budget cannot go up more than inflation plus 2 percent for the next ten years.

At the end of ten years we would have a severely reduced national debt.

Sure, a lot of folks and programs that get government checks would complain. Bureaucrats would whine that their budgets were shrinking. Foreign countries would moan that their aid from us was dwindling. State and local governments would proclaim the sky is falling because the squirts from government teats had declined.

But we would survive. One reason is that there is hardly a budget anywhere that cannot withstand a 6 percent cut.

Would Congress ever consider such a diet? Nah. No more than most of us will stick with our 2020 resolution to lose our bulges.

The flow of revenues into Washington coffers will keep increasing. At a healthy rate. So long as this economy keeps expanding, it will.

And the flow of money Congress spends will keep increasing. At a faster rate than the flows of revenue.

In other words, congressguys will keep spending more than what comes in. No matter how much extra arrives.

You could maybe say they believe and take to heart what they read in the Bible. About loaves and fishes. I’m not sure that redeems them. Nothing much will.

From Tom…as in Morgan.

Find Tom at tomasinmorgan.com. You can write to Tom at tomasinmorgan@yahoo.com.