NATIONAL DEBT AWARENESS CENTER
Updated 15 February 2005.
The National Debt is $7.6 Trillion!
Check it yourself at the U. S. Treasury Department web site, it changes daily.

In FY04 the U. S. Government spent $322 Billion of your money on interest payments* to the holders of the National Debt. Compare that to NASA at $15 Billion, Education at $61 Billion, and Department of Transportation at $56 Billion. For FY2005, the total is already $135 Billion. So how do we fix this growing debt problem? Here is one possible solution. What's your solution? FAQs and Answers on the Balanced Budget Amendment.

President Bush put in tax rate cuts, the economy has recovered and the tax revenue is up. So it wasn't a tax cut, it was a tax rate cut! and it worked perfectly. Now if we can just get Congress to cut spending....

Your money is spent through Appropriations Bills passed by Congress and signed by the President. This chart is based on the Appropriations Bills. The Government does not have any money, it takes your money from you and spends that! Press Release on Tax Code and the IRS.

--- "Deficit" vs. "National Debt" ---

Suppose you want to spend more money this month than your income. This situation is called a "budget deficit". So you borrow. The amount you borrowed (and now owe) is called your debt. You have to pay interest on your debt. If next month you don't have enough money to cover your spending (another deficit), you must borrow some more, and you'll still have to pay the interest on the loan. If you have a deficit every month, you keep borrowing and your debt grows. Soon the interest payment on your loan is bigger than any other item in your budget. Eventually, all you can do is pay the interest payment, and you don't have any money left over for anything else. This situation is known as bankruptcy.

Each year since 1969, Congress has spent more money than its income. The Treasury Department has to borrow money to meet Congress's appropriations. The total borrowed is more than $7,600,000,000,000 and growing. Even when government officials claim to have a surplus, they still spend more than they get in. We pay interest on that huge debt.

According to Mr. Kneeland, "...all dollars come from the people. Where do [you] think Coca-Cola gets the money to pay its taxes, Exxon gets its money to pay the Exxon Valdez fines, Denny's gets the money to pay its Justice Department fines, or even Microsoft gets the money to defend itself? It all ultimately can come from only one place, and that's from individuals."

"For society as a whole, nothing comes as a 'right' to which we are 'entitled'. Even bare subsistence has to be produced.... The only way anyone can have a right to something that has to be produced is to force someone else to produce it... The more things are provided as rights, the less the recipients have to work and the more the providers have to carry the load." Thomas Sowell, quoted in Forbes and Reader's Digest.

"A politician cannot spend one dime on any spending project without first taking that dime from the person who earned it. So, when a politician votes for a spending bill he is saying that he believes the government should spend that particular dollar rather than the individual who worked for it." Neal Boortz.

"There is no such thing as government money - only taxpayer money." William Weld, quoted in Readers Digest.

The interest expense on the National Debt is the third largest expense in the federal budget. Only Defense and income redistribution (The Departments of Health and Human Services, HUD, and Agriculture (food stamps)) are higher. Do you have "Compassion" for the lower income earners?

Social Security is not part of the Federal Budget general. It is a separate account and has its own source of income. Social Security payments do not go into the general fund, they go in the Social Security trust fund, and should NOT be counted as general revenue. The trust fund is supposed to be used to pay future benefits.

Currently, there is more coming into Social Security than is being paid out to beneficiaries. What's left over is routinely being spent as if it were general budget revenue. Government agencies using that money promise to pay it back (IOUs). All of the money in the Social Security Trust Fund has been spent! That's part of the National Debt. So Social Security is just a very large tax collection tool.

Beware the term "Social Security Surplus"; there is no such thing. Social Security is a Ponzi Scheme, there is never more in the Trust Fund than will ever be needed. Another Ponzi link. Social Security will need to be fixed. Here is a debate page.

You are a taxpayer, the Government is taking your money from you and spending it. Is your money being spent the way you want it spent? Have you told your Representative, your Senators?

Income tax is counterproductive. Learn more about the best tax alternative, the "fair tax" as presented by Americans for Fair Taxation.

What about "corporate welfare"? Are corporations paying their "fair share" or are they just collecting our money?

Want to know more about the Federal Budget and the National Debt? Visit some of these great web sites.

* It's true that we have to pay interest on the National Debt. But some citizens own a portion of the national debt, in the form of savings bonds and other government bonds. So some of the interest payment goes to them. You may be one of them. You'd want to keep your interest income coming. But the interest payment is being paid by taxpayers, and you may be one of them also...it's a tangled web.

Income Redistribution: Government takes money that you earned from you, and gives it to someone else. This happens when the tax money you are forced to give to the government is given to others for their use. Example: Earned Income Credit. Then, how do you give a tax break to lower scale wage earners that don't pay much income tax? You have to take it from the higher scale wage earners and give it to the lower scale wage earners. Now look at this link. more

The bottom line: The National Debt Awareness Center advocates reduction of the National Debt and replacement of income tax with a national retail sales tax. No government should have any knowledge of your income! NDAC does not support any political party.

Click here for more information about the National Debt Awareness Campaign.

The author of this web site is Gene Simmons, Founder, National Debt Awareness Campaign (NDAC). You are authorized to copy and freely distribute the bar chart and the information provided in this web site; just include a reference to this web site. If you want to link your web site, do it. Email the NDAC director.
 
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