The mounting amounts of the missing money in the U.S. have often been spent to handle Government Budget crisis in the past. This practice still continues, what with the National Debt rising to a whopping $12.3 trillion today. Here is the truth, and if this does not set us free, it will very well at least let us know where we stand.
Americans have spent the last 10 years spending more money than they make. In the early 1980s, they saved 9 cents of every dollar they made. That number has dropped in a straight line for the last 25 years, and recently they have had a negative savings rate. They have spent more than they have earned for many years and have made up the difference using credit cards and pulling equity out of their homes which until recently had gone straight up in value.
This is exactly how budget deficits have originated over time. Each year since 1969, Congress has spent more money than its income. The Treasury Department has to borrow money to meet Congress's appropriations. Missing money in the U.S. has always come very handy to fill in this gap. However, the problem does not end here, now, the Americans have to pay interest on this huge debt, and now the treasury is also having trouble finding lenders.
In the Fiscal Year 2009 (FY09), the Treasury Department spent $383 billion of public money on interest payments to the holders of the National Debt. Compare this with NASA at $19 billion, Education $53 billion, and Department of Transportation $73 billion. This great example should actually have been an startling experience really. William Weld rightly said “There is no such thing as Government money – only taxpayer money is what they have.”
"Economic growth in the next few years will probably be muted in the aftermath of the financial and economic turmoil," the CBO report says. The latest estimates also see a $1.35 trillion deficit for the current budget year, dropping to $980 billion next year — but only if a host of tax cuts enacted under President George W. Bush are allowed to expire. The Congressional Budget
Office report predicts a sluggish economic recovery and continued high deficits that present twin political problems for President Barack Obama and his Democratic allies.
The 2010 deficit figure is in line with the previous estimates and would be a slight decline from last year's $1.4 trillion shortfall. However, plans are afoot on Capitol Hill for a new job bill and a coming Obama request for war funds would add to the total. The figures bring continued bad news on the deficit, keeping the pressure on Obama and congressional Democrats to demonstrate they're serious about taking on the flood of red ink. The missing money in the U.S. story will continue to fill in deficits, since this has become an easy tool for use as long as Government receipts and spending do not stabilize.
