The U.S. national debt has surpassed the $40 trillion mark. At this rate, we might hit $50 trillion by the end of Trump’s term in office.
Never mind that this comes out to about $300,000 per American household. This national debt doesn’t even account for the massive unfunded liabilities of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. Total estimates here range north of $100 trillion.
Meanwhile, interest rates are not near zero any more. The 30-year yield is above 5%. The 10-year yield is above 4.5%. Those interest payments start to add up.
There is a race with federal spending between the military and the interest payments on the national debt. Trump wants a $1.5 trillion annual military budget. The ballooning interest payments on the national debt should catch up to that number in no time.
How Much Should a Burrito Cost?
There has been a great debate about the cost of a burrito over the last several weeks. It originated when someone posted that a burrito shouldn’t cost $20.
We can play a technicality game here and say that a burrito should cost whatever the consumer is willing to pay. Put another way, a burrito should cost what the market price is.
Of course, this misses the point. In our world of massive monetary inflation and debt, a burrito should cost $20 because our money has been devalued. The point of the original post about a $20 burrito is that prices are too high as compared to wages. We have lost purchasing power because there is too much money in circulation. The taxes, regulations, and other government interferences don’t help.
It was interesting seeing some of the pushback, which seemed to come from the politically conservative side. It is really rich when it comes from the rabid war hawks.
They argue that burritos don’t have to cost $20. Yes, we understand you can go to some places in the country and get a burrito for something like $12 (which is still a lot). The person who posted about the $20 burrito was simply sharing their own experience.
Then we get the argument that these whiny kids shouldn’t be eating out. They should be at home making rice and beans, ramen noodles, or whatever relatively cheap food you want to pick. Aside from the bad health advice, this is a ridiculous argument.
More Freedom, Less War
We should be able to go out and buy a burrito, including younger people. This is as much money as some people make in an hour (before taxes).
The problem for these “conservative” war hawks is that they need trillions of dollars of our money to fight their precious wars and to run an overseas empire. Maybe if we weren’t bombing countries all over the planet, we would be paying significantly less for burritos and many other items.
It is interesting that some young people are looking to socialism for the answers. The problem is that they think we live in a capitalist system. We live in a very mixed economy. We have market prices like a $20 burrito, but we don’t have a free market because the government is so involved in almost every aspect of our lives.
The so-called democratic socialists are correct that prices are too high and that something needs to change. Unfortunately, their solutions are wrong. Some of the more moderate socialists point to places like Sweden. But Sweden is also a mixed economy like the U.S. The difference is that Sweden has slightly more welfare spending while spending less on militarism.
While I would prefer far less government spending overall and for people to be able to keep more of their own money, I would take more at-home welfare spending in exchange for less military spending.
The people who always want more war and militarism shouldn’t be lecturing anyone on economic issues or fiscal conservatism. If it were up to them, half or more of our money would go towards running an even bigger world empire.