Immigrants Turn Around And Go Home After Seeing Updated National Debt Figure
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
TIJUANA—Thousands of immigrants waiting to get into the United States turned around and went home Wednesday afternoon upon seeing that the US government's national debt is now rapidly approaching $22 trillion.
Migrants quickly changed their minds about becoming American citizens when they saw just how much money they would have to pay in taxes over the next few decades just to keep up with the rapidly growing national debt's interest. They had heard America was a great place of opportunity with plenty of programs to assist the poor, but figured out that the math doesn't quite add up and that the government would be broke soon enough anyway.
"We came here for the great benefits and opportunities, but then we realized that if we became Americans, we and our children and their children would owe a ridiculous amount of money," one man from Guatemala told reporters as he packed up his things and prepared for the long journey home. "Thanks, but no thanks. We'll pass on becoming US citizens."
While they acknowledged their impoverished home countries weren't much better, they said the $22 trillion number was "baffling," and caused them to realize the welfare and entitlement programs the bulk of the budget is spent on simply aren't sustainable in the long run.
"What on earth are you guys spending such an obscene amount of money on?" one central American woman wondered aloud. "Like, you should probably get that under control. It's basic economics."
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BWAHAHAAAA!
Anyone here old enough to remember when the Republicans were actually opposed to excessive spending-- and strongly opposed to raising the national debt?
I'm young enough to remember reading about it, does that still count ?
lol
I believe it is safe to say that neither party is fiscally responsible.
Debt and deficits never really matter to the party in power, and always matter to the minority party.
That is just politics--not sane fiscal policy.
Back when I was a republican they sure seemed more financially concerned than now for damn sure.
If either party was responsible, we wouldn't be anywhere CLOE to $22 Trillion in debt.
Which is why I almost always oppose increases in taxes, because I know from experience and what I can see that the money isn't being spent wisely. Why give them any more to fuck off?
IF ether party was responsible and held power for long we wouldn't be either. These days I think trump's plan is to grow ourselves out of the problem , Could maybe work, IF we started paying extra on the deept and IF we grow enough. I guess we'll see WTF really happens.
Realistically, we will keep adding to our debt.
I seriously doubt that we will ever even see a reduction in debt in our lifetimes.
realistically I'd say IF we dont, it will be the end of us sooner or later. You can not live on borrowing more and more money forever. there comes a time you cant even pay all the payments.
If and when we start defaulting it's about done and the rich will flea like rats abandoning ship. If I can, I'm going with them.
Yes, it will run out someday. Not too likely in my lifetime, though.
We will probably end up like Greece one day.
Wouldn't surprise me in the least.
Me either but I think we'll see some pain in our lifetime from this as well. For starters as the dept and its service payments increase America will have less and less to even operate on.
I'm of the mind you work on fixing a problem as soon as you can before it grows and eats you alive.
Funny, as in strange, I always see us more as the Roman Empire, it failed because of over extension of resources and, infighting among the ruling class and, the people.
That does sound strangely familiar. Perhaps too much so.
Thankfully we have a pied piper.
Sarc !
This was not intended as a partisan comment. rather, I distinctly remember when Republicans were firmly against increasing the debt unnecessarily...the Democrats were much less concerned about increasing the debt.
But now mainstream of the Republican party has adopted the same attitude as the Democrats used to be known for.
Yes there was a time when we had one fiscally responsible party.
"We came here for the great benefits and opportunities, but then we realized that if we became Americans, we and our children and their children would owe a ridiculous amount of money," one man from Guatemala told reporters as he packed up his things and prepared for the long journey home. ...lol
Good, spread the word !!
Sad but probably true. At least the part about instantly being in dept up to your ears.
That's the way I feel about it. It certainly isn't going to get better by letting a bunch more people in that look at our social welfare system as where the "milk and honey" come from...
Ha!
Ha! If only.
"What on earth are you guys spending such an obscene amount of money on?"
Well, we're spending $639 billion a year on our military budget and have a deficit of $984 billion a year (which had been cut to $520 billion under Obama but was exploded again by Trumps tax cuts).
The federal government takes in just under $3.5 trillion a year in revenue from taxes, tariffs and investments. We spend $4.4 trillion a year with 62% going to just three programs, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. 100% of Social Security costs are covered by the payroll taxes. Then we have $363 billion a year on interest on the debt (much of which is being paid to the Social Security Trust Fund since the government borrowed money out of it and we owe about $4 trillion to ourselves). The rest is "discretionary spending" of which over half goes to the military and veterans health care.
And yes, we spend quite a bit on welfare and the TANF (Temporary Aid For Needy Families). That combined with all the farm subsidies, tax cuts and loopholes allowing corporations to avoid paying their fair share of taxes while our military works tirelessly so they have safe places to conduct business, all the oil company subsidies and the tax exempt status of religious organizations (who get donations tax free that are often then spent to pay off victims of their abuse with over $7 billion being paid by the Catholic Church alone) it's no wonder we're going broke.
If we taxed religious organizations I bet we could cut our deficit by quite a bit. Georgetown University estimates they take in more than $1.2 trillion a year. And if we cut the loop holes that have been letting corporations pay effectively zero in taxes, cut the oil subsidies, cut the farm subsidies (that are going to large automated farms, not small family farmers), and cut the fat in the military budget (even the military leaders say they don't need many of the ships/planes that the government has contracted for) and we could actually balance the budget and start paying off our debts instead of increasing it.
Oh, as for undocumented immigrants, they likely cost our local and federal government about $18 billion a year, but they pay about $15 billion in income and social security taxes, so they're the least of our worries, they're almost breaking even and some have shown they actually improve local economies, pay sales tax, rent and buy goods and services that support local workers.
One problem SS has is that, while 100% self-funding, it is now spending more than it is taking in. Back in the 1980's, Congress increased SS taxes to prepare for the baby-boomer generation, and built up a huge surplus, which is now being diminished yearly.
Sooner or later, it will simply not have the money to pay everyone the same amount of benefits as it does now.
Religious organizations being taxed would be a hard sell. Separation of church and state, don't ya know!
I am all for ending govt. waste in spending, including the military budget. What kind of freaking idiot approves $500 toilet seats or $200 hammers? Or jets, tanks and ships we don't really need? The govt. certainly doesn't need to fund as much research as it does. Have you ever looked at some of that shit?
Religious organizations and sports organizations which are not being taxed now would be a GREAT addition to our tax base.
Seems like the strict separation of church and state would preclude taxing them.
It would be a dangerous road to go down.
Pay unto Caesar what is due unto Caesar - well, if the Church's head sez it - guess ya gotta do it.
NFL????? AFL????? MLB??? NBA???? ETC.???? Sorry, but you don't need to pay a quarterback who "might" play in two games his first three years $135M nor pay Roger $67M a year.
The NFL, MLB, NBA do not pay players. Individual teams owned by people or corporations do.
And those teams usually pay federal taxes.
thefieldsofgreen.com/2014/04/14/federal-tax-bill-for-mlb-nfl-and...
And players are worth whatever someone is willing to pay them. Most have very short careers, and the great ones bring in a ton of revenue.
Players also pay federal income tax on that money.
Seems to me not taxing them violates strict separation and is unfair
https://www.latimes.com/la-oew-lynn-stanley23-2008sep23-story.html
https://www.quora.com/Why-dont-churches-have-to-pay-taxes
https://www.focusonthefamily.com/socialissues/religious-freedom/...