Let us explore. Shall we?
Three tools to assist:
- AI1 - Actual Intelligence
- AI2 - Artificial Intelligence
- FIA - The solution
It would seem there are some here who claim to believe that Trump is the root of all problems in raising the National Debt. I see that approach as politically expedient, i.e. lazy.
Yet, I believe to a person here, that we all know where the problems really lay - bloated government and self-indulgent politicians, who really don't seem to care what the peasants/subjects want or need, but instead use them as a fiscal pinata, to be whacked open continually.
Let's bolster it with a bit-o AI2:
Q1) When was the last time we passed a budget instead of continuing resolutions at the federal level?
A1) Last Budget Passed
The last time Congress passed all twelve regular appropriations bills on time, thereby funding the federal government for a full fiscal year without relying on continuing resolutions, was for fiscal year 1997.Q2) When was the last time we passed a balance budget at the federal level?
Since then, Congress has consistently failed to meet the budget deadlines set by the Budget Control and Impoundment Act of 1974, routinely using continuing resolutions to temporarily fund government operations.
In fact, from fiscal years 1977 to 2015, Congress completed the appropriations process on time only four times: in fiscal years 1977, 1989, 1995, and 1997.
For fiscal year 2025, the government has already been funded through multiple continuing resolutions, with the latest extending funding through the remainder of the fiscal year at previous funding levels.
A2) Last Federal Balance Budget
The last time the United States federal government passed a balanced budget was in 2001, under President Bill Clinton.Q3) What is a continuing resolution at the federal budget level?
This was the most recent year of a budget surplus, with the surplus peaking at $236 billion in 2000 before falling to $128 billion in 2001.
The budget was balanced following a combination of tax increases, strong economic growth, and spending restraint during the 1990s.
Since then, the federal government has consistently operated with a budget deficit.
A3) What is Continuing Resolution
A continuing resolution (CR) is a temporary funding measure passed by Congress to maintain federal government operations when the regular annual appropriations bills have not been enacted by the start of the federal fiscal year on October 1.Seems to be a little light between the three AI2 answers, but they generally nest correctly and ring true - IMHO. My own add-on regarding CRs: The base assumption is that each item is funded at the previous year's level at bare minimum, but is typically increased.
It provides budget authority to continue funding for federal agencies, departments, and programs at the levels established in the previous fiscal year's appropriations, or with minor modifications, for a specified period.
The primary purpose of a CR is to prevent a government shutdown by ensuring that essential services, such as military support, social programs, and research facilities, can continue operating while lawmakers negotiate a final budget agreement.
CRs are often used as a stopgap solution due to political gridlock or delays in the appropriations process, and they can be full-year measures or shorter-term extensions.
In other words, no debate on whether it should even continue to exist, just how much more $$ do we need to whack outta the peasants or put them on the hook for! A-n-d, they've been doing this since at least the 90s!
So what in any of that is Trump-unique? (Using only AI1).
So how do we fix it? Alas, it looks like only FI will.
So WTF is FIA and how can it help in this matter?
Here is an example from our own history:
In Congress, July 4, 1776Flowery words, which pretty much meant FIA -- Fcuk It Already!
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government...
Hey! It worked once before. Change my mind.
The alternative is perpetual Blame-Storming.
And we'll still end up at this same point.
