Editorial: Debt Crisis - WSFA.com: News Weather and Sports for Montgomery, AL.

Editorial: Debt Crisis

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By Collin R. Gaston - bio | email

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MONTGOMERY, AL (WSFA) -

Our nation's debt is currently north of $14 Trillion dollars. That's right TRILLION with 12 zero's. 

You might be thinking – no problem our government just passed "historic" budget cuts of $38 billion last week - this should fix everything and get us back on the track to solvency right?  Wrong.

Let's take a look at March 2011.  In March, according to the U.S. Treasury, the federal government grossed or took in $194 billion in tax revenue and paid out $65.8 billion in tax refunds thus netting $128.1 billion in tax revenue for March.  Great news right – we had a surplus of $128 billion in revenue and can fund programs, build roads, improve education and pay down debt? Wrong.

At the same time, the U.S. Treasury paid out a total of $1.1 trillion. When the $65.8 billion in tax refunds is deducted from that, the Treasury paid a net of $1 trillion in federal expenses for March.  That works out to 8.2 times more in spending than the $128 billion in net federal tax revenues taken in for the month.  We are spending money we do not have.

The time for a reality check is now. The line is long for those who do not  want increases in taxes, programs to be discontinued, schools to close or take a pay cuts but everyone has to realize that if we do not institute and support fundamental fiscal policy changes now – tomorrow will not be a better day for this great nation or this great state of Alabama.

We welcome your feedback. 

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