The New York Times editorial board seems to have rediscovered basic economics: excessive federal government borrowing is “unsustainable.” Thanks, Captain Obvious!
The Times released a July 5 editorial headlined, “America Is Living on Borrowed Money,” admitting that the U.S. “now borrows heavily during periods of economic growth to meet basic and ongoing obligations. It’s increasingly unsustainable.” In fact, per The Times, “By 2029, the government is on pace to spend more each year on interest than on national defense.”
The Times cited research from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), which estimated that annual federal budget deficits over the next decade will reach a whopping $2.7 trillion. Also, the federal debt held by the public is projected to hit a ridiculous 119 percent of GDP as a result of those deficits.
However, despite admitting the glaring dangers of the government repeatedly maxing out its credit card and borrowing more, The Times still had the audacity to spin adding to the debt as a good thing in its first sentence: “The federal debt is as old as the nation, and adding to it is sometimes prudent.”
The leftist newspaper proceeded to justify the federal government’s irresponsible spendthrift with taxpayer dollars in the first paragraph of its editorial. “For governments confronting ‘existential crises’ like wars or pandemics, borrowing makes sense as a way to mobilize national resources, as the economist Barry Eichengreen wrote in the 2021 book, ‘In Defense of Public Debt.’”
But the CBO report that The Times cited projected that by 2033, “debt measured as a share of GDP would reach the highest level ever recorded in the United States and would be on track to rise even further.” It was as if The Times was vigorously trying to undercut itself before it made its own case about how bad the federal borrowing situation is.
Then The Times — like pravda — turned the issue of federal borrowing into a leftist talking point to blast Republicans for pushing tax cuts. “Republicans evidently are not concerned about the debt. Every time they have had the opportunity in recent decades, they have passed tax cuts that force the government to borrow more money.”
Ah, so the issue for The Times is that lessening tax burdens is a more of a problem for government borrowing than Washington D.C. routinely putting its out-of-control spending on autopilot. “Democrats, for their part, have grown wary of calls to curtail spending because predictions of dire consequences have not come to pass, and because they have learned the bitter lesson that agreeing to spending cuts simply creates room for Republicans to justify another round of tax cuts.”
The Times conveniently neglected to mention the sheer amount of government waste that directly occurs as a result of how carelessly bureaucrats and lawmakers spend taxpayer money.
CNBC reported in April that the federal government wastes at least $247 billion in taxpayer dollars each year. In addition, estimates suggest that the government wasted at least $683 million a day in 2022 alone, according to Fox Business.
CATO Institute Director of Budget and Entitlement Policy Romina Boccia noted Oct. 26, 2022, that “[g]overnment spending per person, after adjusting for inflation, has more than quadrupled over the past five decades.” The Times didn’t even mention a need to reduce government spending until the 14th paragraph of its 15-paragraph long editorial.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact The New York Times at 800-698-4637 and demand it tell the truth about the federal government’s out-of-control spending.
