Lovers of economic liberty should not allow themselves to be taken in by the congressional dog and pony show surrounding the current 2011 budget. The proposed $61 billion in budget cuts by the U.S House of Representatives may sound like a lot of money to most Main Street Americans but the truth is that $61 billion is equivalent to one grain of all the sand on Florida’s beaches.

Here is the harsh reality of the economic numbers:

1. One third ($1.5 trillion) of the 2011 budget is borrowed money. (2011 budget year runs from October 1, 2010 to September 30, 2011)

2. Assuming that Congress can cut $61 billion per year out of successive year’s budgets it will take TWENTY-FIVE years to pay off the $1.5 trillion of debt accrued just this year! ($61B X 25YRS = $1.5 trillion)

3. All of the $61 billion of proposed spending cuts comes from either the national defense part of the budget pie or the discretionary spending part of the budget pie. The TOTAL national defense piece of the budget pie is $738 billion (approximately 20% of the overall budget) and the TOTAL discretionary spending part of the pie is $540 billion (approximately 15% of the overall budget). Even if Congress eliminated all national defense and discretionary spending (a total of $1.3 trillion) from the federal budget the US would have to borrow $300 billion to make ends meet this year.

4. The national debt of the US is currently $14 trillion. The entire value of all goods and services (GDP) produced in the US economy is only $14 trillion. Federal government accountants estimate that Congress will borrow one trillion dollars per year to fully fund the budgets for each of the next 10 years. All of this economically suicidal borrowing means that by 2021 the national debt will almost double to $24 trillion.

5. If by some miracle the Congress were to balance the budget this year and begin paying down the current $14 trillion national debt at a rate of $61 billion per year (excluding interest payments on the debt) it would take 229 YEARS to pay off the debt!

        Wake up America! Congress is demonstrating by their actions that they have no serious intent to balance the federal budget and begin paying down the national debt. Every dollar they borrow is another squandering nail in the debt coffin they are constructing for your kids and grandkids.