Letter: U.S. Congress is clueless on fixing nation’s budget

On the first Monday in February President Trump, like most presidents before him, submitted his proposed budget to Congress: A planned $4.8 trillion expenditure.A preliminary review of the figures indicates there are no revenue increases to fund and reduce the differential borrowing required between the revenue and expenditure budgets, nor is there any reduction in the rate of increase in the public debt, or in the unfunded fiscal obligations.

To remove the potential political arguments concerning a $4.8 trillion budget is to review the 2017 budget of $4 trillion. A simplified way to describe this is that every person, from a newborn to a deathbed senior citizen, pays $10,132 and borrows $2,149 to spend $12,281, without reducing their personal obligations and national obligations.

In 2017, after paying in full all federal taxes, imposts, fees, Social Security contributions, Medicare payments, and other governmental programs, each person had a public debt obligation of about $61,700 at just under 2 percent interest, with unsecured fiscal obligations of $258,800 (mostly for Social Security and Medicare).

The public debts and fiscal obligations have since increased without any apparent Congressional consideration to establish a fiscally sound repayment plan, and without a specific termination date to fully satisfy these debts and obligations.

When someone opines that two plus two equals more than four, that person is either a fool, a crook, a politician, or some combination thereof. The budget and related fiscal obligations requires rational actions by responsible adults.

On fundamental financial matters, our irresponsible politicians are proud to be ignorant, and too stupid to be ashamed of themselves.

Michael R. Drennan,

Miami