IT’S STILL THE ECONOMY, STUPID!
by Deborah Giffin, VATP Chair of Direct Legislative Action (DLA)
April 15, 2009 was the day for rallies in about 750 locations across the country. Since that day, the Tea Party movement has been active in many areas. At first, gatherings of like-minded folks rallied around the “Taxed Enough Already!” ideology. Large gatherings such as the 9.12 March on Washington energized a fellowship of mostly white, middle-class conservatives. As the movement matured it has expanded to include minorities and youth and has reconstituted into many other entities with different names and missions, but all still focused on the ideas of liberty, self-determination, and small government.
The Tea Party has not died, it has evolved. Rallies and mass meetings where folks can network with each other were needed in the beginning, in part to reassure citizens that they were not alone. Rallies do not change laws or regulations, and do not change the status-quo, but they do show the strength in numbers. So, conservatives got to work by educating themselves, going to local school boards and board of supervisors’ meetings, learning how to run for office, and identifying and countering media bias. We elected a conservative President. We discovered the lengths to which the progressives would go to hold power in the government. We watched as the government’s response to the COVID pandemic stripped away personal liberties and massively increased the national debt, while far-left groups ran amok without consequences.
The result? Conservatives were branded as COVID-deniers, and as dangerous hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center, maligned in the press, parodied in dramas on television, and have been identified by the President of the United States as “domestic terrorists.”
Guess what? That does not stop us, because we do not succumb to the latest fads, theories, or mass hysteria that grip large swaths of the populace. We remain patriotic, faithful, and with a resistance to government encroachment on our personal lives.
In 2019, when we were awakened to the debt crisis, federal debt was $12.3 Trillion. Today, thanks to unrestricted government spending, the federal debt is $33.17 Trillion. In FY2012 our debt was 100% of the Gross Domestic Product; now it is 123%.
We are reaching a tipping point from which we may never recover. The interest on our debt for FY24 is $870 Billion, which is more money than the entire Defense budget, and is more money than is spent on Medicare. 16% of total government spending for FY24 is for debt service.
Our government cannot bring itself to only spend what we take in. In 2023 we took in $4.4 Trillion, but we spent $6.1 Trillion. Interest on the debt is $2.4 Billion per DAY, and our debt grows $8.5 Billion per day. Our total debt is $33.17 Trillion. If you convert the debt into miles, it equals the distance that light travels in 5.6 LIGHT YEARS.
It may well be time to bring back a Tax Day rally. What should Americans be concerned about? It’s the economy, stupid! (James Carville, 1992)
TAX AND DEBT FACTS FOR TAX DAY
The US Debt increases $8.5 Billion PER DAY
Each citizen owes $103,000
Every TAXPAYER’S share is $219,381,755
Federal Debt is 123% of the Gross Domestic Product. Federal Debt was 100% of GDP in 2012
The United States’ credit was downgraded to AA+
Total government debt is over $34 TRILLION
34 Trillion miles is 5.6 light years, the distance covered at the speed of light.
Interest on the debt for FY24 is $870 Billion
Daily interest is $2.4 Billion
We now spend more in debt interest than the entire Defense budget
We now spend more in debt interest than Medicare
The top 1% of earners already pay 26% of the $$s collected in taxes
2023: $$ in = 4.4 Trillion 2023: $$ out= 6.1 Trillion
Gas prices are up 38% in the last 37 months.
Average MONTHLY inflation under Biden= 5.6%
