Commentary by Ed Wallace, Publisher – May 30, 2023

(Thanks to Sundance at the Conservative Treehouse, Jacob Hornberger at The Tenth Amendment Center, and Whitson G. Waldo, III at the Mises Institute, for their input.)

Apparently a debt ceiling no longer exists.

Once again, America has been betrayed by feckless opportunists. What galls me most about the “Debt Ceiling” brouhaha is that the budget is the only place where the GOP controlled House has (had) any political leverage.

Want to reign in the green new deal?

Want to end the weaponization of the FBI and DOJ?

Want to stop the current invasion at the border?

Want to stop Biden’s plan to weaponize the IRS?

Want to support parents… the elderly… the poor and middle class?

Want to reign in LGBTQ recruitment into sexual deviancy?

That’s not all: The Environmental Protection Agency, dedicated to antihumanism and environmental radicalism, isn’t defunded. Neither the Department of Commerce, dedicated to globalism, nor the Department of Health and Human Services, dedicated to the evisceration of the intact nuclear family, is defunded as well. Crony capitalist initiatives such as the funding for the Creating Helpful Incentives to Product Semiconductors (CHIPS) Act and tax credits for ethanol production should stop. Liberty isn’t advanced. Safety and security aren’t supported. At the global level, the incompetent and tyrannical World Health Organization, the United Nations, the World Economic Forum, and the socialist and crony capitalist International Monetary Fund are fully funded. Forever wars supported by the military industrial complex, the corrupt and tyrannical Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are fully funded. At the national level, the corrupt and unreformable Federal Bureau of Investigation; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; and US Customs and Border Protection agencies are fully funded. The environmental, social, and governance; critical race theory; and diversity, equity, and inclusion frameworks are fully supported as well. The woke military is exempt from cuts.

The GOP controlled house entered these negotiations with peak political leverage because the House controls funding. But they took their ONLY power, their only leverage over Biden and Schumer’s Senate and gave it up, chucked it, and caved.

This is how bad Kevin McCarthy is at negotiating: McCarthy went in offering Biden an increase of $1.5 trillion and cuts. He walked out giving Biden an UNLIMITED debt ceiling increase and growing government as usual. They call it the Fiscal Responsibility Act. Really???

Many of the House Republicans are furious at Kevin McCarthy. Suddenly, the prior battle and construct of the House Rules Committee is becoming important.  While McCarthy may have the 218 votes on the floor of the House to pass the deal, he first has to get it out of the House Rules Committee (HRC).  If three Republicans oppose it in the HRC, McCarthy cannot get it to the floor. Chip Roy and Ralph Norman are on the HRC and oppose the bill.  Thomas Massie is also on the HRC but appears to be supporting Kevin McCarthy (lol, because muh principles).

Most have assumed that McCarthy was trying to win this process. At this point, we have to accept that Kevin McCarthy was intending to “lead” into surrender the entire time. Why give 19 months of unlimited debt? Why not address some of the major problems we face, such as: 

Biden’s Student Loan Forgiveness –McCarthy agreed to keep it in the budget

Biden’s 87,000 new IRS agents —McCarthy agreed to finance 98% of it

Open Borders, Illegal Invasion —McCarthy did not use the GOP’s budget leverage to force the Wall to be finished and the Border to be closed.

FBI funding Last year’s Omnibus included additional funds to expand their hunting down of people tied to J6. The FBI says the funds enable them to hunt down and arrest double the number of J6ers, another 1000 I believe. And McCarthy left this funding in the budget.

UKRAINE funding continues unchecked.

McCarthy passed a GOP budget bill in late April and chucked it to cave to Biden. Worse — instead of a one year budget agreement, McCarthy locked us in for two years thru the end of the term of the GOP controlled House. Then we’ll play Debt Ceiling Apocalypse all over again.

The Democrats got everything they wanted and they will vote Yea. The RINOs got everything they wanted and they will vote Yea. Maybe there will be 20 Freedom Caucus votes against. This is more Decepticon Theater.

Biden must have threatened a hunger strike by refusing to eat his jello and ice cream. McCarthy probably offered Biden two entire pints of chocolate chip ice cream. At publishing time, the American people had learned the breakthrough deal was that both Republicans and Democrats got to take turns whacking American taxpayers like a cash piñata.

So Congress got a replacement slush fund to make sure they can continue to deficit spend forever.

The idea that the requirement that bills for raising revenue must originate in the House creates some special “power” is just not how the system works. And yet it was designed to protect the purses of the people. But back then, there were no income taxes.

For those who don’t remember what the Constitution says, which is most of our elected representatives, it does not authorize a great deal of what the federal government spends our tax dollars to do.

Until basic budget responsibility prevails, to say nothing of fidelity to the Constitution, we’ll continue the gradual course toward sudden catastrophe.

From a mathematical perspective, the USA currency will soon be history. If this budget deal passes, interest rates will spike dramatically increasing deficits, inflation, and bank runs.  

The only difference between democrats and republicans is that the republicans will bankrupt us at a slightly slower pace.

Negotiating in DC means the government always grows bigger, the rate is the only thing that varies. It’s always personal liberties that are sacrificed. Show me any federal gov’t “negotiation” that hasn’t produced an ever larger federal gov’t and budget at the expense of the common man’s liberties.

The democrats aren’t the problem. They don’t hide who they are or what they want. The establishment RINOs are the problem. They lie, cheat and steal and stab us in the back for $$$$$. They are the true Judas.

There. Is. No. Budget. And. There. Has. Not. Been. A. Budget. Since. 2008.  

“Budget” is just a term for a process that was implemented to limit the power of the Appropriations Committees by creating separate “Budget Committees” to oversee the process. The real problem is that in recent years Congress (primarily Senate Democrats) have refused to pass regular appropriations bills, preferring to roll most of them into “Omnibus” bills.

The last regular order congressional budget was passed in September of 2007 for fiscal year 2008. That’s it. Every single year from 2008 to now has been a series of baseline budgeting, continuous resolutions and omnibus spending bills.

Face it, we allowed our reps to screw us over for decades. It ultimately comes back to us and what and whom we choose to ignore.

None should be surprised that McCarthy (the Rino) caved. Have others noticed a major propaganda push out there in the media to try to paint this as a win for us? The long-drawn out- theater was to have us believe he was doing something.

Speaker McCarthy has the testicles to tell the American people that he has cut spending, and this is a great deal. More lies, and BS, from the political machine that continues to destroy our country, and fill their pockets with this absurd spending. McCarthy is officially in the same club as Boehner and Ryan; just another worthless and weak politician.

I think even the ones we trust a little are designated role players who provide a release valve for conservative and common sense views. I’m not sure any of it is “real” as opposed to a series/calendar of staged actions designed to carry various constituencies along on a magical mystery tour.

But we do need to be aware when talking to others that the U.S. Government uses the term “budget” in their official releases and the public understands this as being a budget matter, even if it is not actually a true budget. I am fully aware of what they are doing. I’m not going to help them do it.

And, Biden commented: “If you want to try to make it look like I made some compromise on the debt ceiling, I didn’t. I made a compromise on the budget.” pic.twitter.com/lqrRkWCY3 . What a Load of Extrament.

The constitution is hopelessly incapable of making us competent, honorable people. The populace are so out of touch intellectually and spiritually there’s no way to fix anything. The worst keep getting elected for a reason. Votes are irrelevant. But todays public-education class doesn’t know shyt about anything. It will require a financial asteroid to make any effect.

This is bad, because it’s ALWAYS bad after one of these Debt Ceiling Drama plays in 5 acts. We are now in Act 4, the part where the Uni-Party sends their people out to tell the press how bad this bill is for BOTH sides. The point is to give the illusion that because no one likes the bill, both sides “gave up” something for the good of the country. And it is all BS. Nobody likes the deal because they are either playing their part, OR because the bill is a horrible bill; and it is nearly always a combination of the two. 

Act 5 will be the “learned” pundits in the media assuring us of how this bill didn’t solve that many problems, but when you have an evenly divided country, you aren’t going to do much better than this. All BS. McCarthy and the GOP held ALL the cards. All of them. And once again, snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Because victory for the people means a loss for the Deep State, and that just can’t happen.

You do realize the increases in spending is what is causing our grocery inflation right? And that the spending solely benefits the Intelligence Deepstate?

No bill that doesn’t get us actual spending cuts instead of just reductions in automatic increases, an actual budget, mandatory debt reduction and a reduction in the debt limit, not an increase, is a total shafting of American taxpayers. 

The government takes in more than enough money each month to pay it’s legal obligations. The problem is that they spend too much on payoffs and other non-essential things like the money to Ukraine, a total waste. I know there is no chance of the political fat cats from both sides doing the right thing and I don’t expect anything but more of the same greed, graft and payoffs to happen here or in the near future.

Kevin McCarthy is filled with hog wash. I forget if it is Honey Ants or Sugar Ants – I believe it to be Honey Ants, they pick certain of their own kind out of their own hive or bed, and they bite off the legs of these selected ones, and then proceed to stuff them to the gills with honey until they are huge bloated “Jars of Honey”, and are stored up for the hard times, such as drought, when this emergency food supply becomes so handy to have around. And they cannot escape.

The very obvious problem with all of this is that: “it isn’t ‘debt,’ by any rational definition. If you can issue trillions(!) of dollars of ‘government bonds’” and there exists a magical “private” corporation called the Federal Reserve that always has the ability to “buy them,” then you are just pulling ‘money’ out of your arsh.

And yet, you want other nations to [only …] use “your currency.” That simply is not going to continue to happen, because it no longer makes rational sense to do so. Nations will necessarily move to employ the currencies of other nations which still do exhibit financial responsibility and discipline. As any rational human being would. They are already in the very-active process of doing so.

No one is going to give you something that costs them to produce, in exchange for a piece of paper that costs nothing to produce. “What kind of Fool do you think I am?”

Much of that currency was created ex nihilo, and leads to a glaring issue. How does this currency still enjoy widespread circulation knowing this? Then, comes the realization that one can do so much by controlling the currency flow. The currency must flow, for he who controls the currency can control the world. A flaw remains. Currency and money are not always the same thing.

Rush Limbaugh made the observation, back in 2011 I believe, that ‘What is the purpose of taxation any more? There is no relationship between revenue raised by taxes and revenue spent by the government; they could eliminate the income tax and still spend every cent they want to, just print it’

Which turns out to be exactly what they ended up doing

Except that when it becomes convenient the Uniparty will pass increased tax legislation to confiscate our assets to pay down the federal debt. It’s just another arrow in the criminals’ quivers

This Congress is done. All of the shouting is just wind after this betrayal. Nothing can be salvaged after the control of the purse has been given up.

If the facts do not rhyme with reality, maybe you should adjust the picture of what reality is. How about this take: Republicans want the same thing as Democrats, they are really just different sides of the same coin. The illusion of choice is to pacify. 

Now and then there’s a polarizing bone thrown out for people to fight over like abortion, which distracts nicely from the defense industrial contractors having their hand in the taxpayer till.

Its a construct that works until it doesn’t.

Meanwhile, McCarthy is lying on his back, legs in the air, waiting for his tummy rub by the RNC.

I’d like to see somebody present a bill that would ban credit card companies from putting a limit on how much debt people can accumulate on their credit cards. That way we can all run up as much debt as we want, borrow money to make the minmum payment and keep borrowing more….to infinity and beyond.

America is up shoot creek. I will not be able pay what they are asking of me, estimated at $250,000 for each taxpayer.

Why should dems bother to win the house, if their opponents will give them what they want?

I think this debt ceiling crisis was orchestrated to implement a digital currency. If our installed government has reached a plan to continue printing paper money that cannot be controlled in every transaction then there must be another plan in place to force the world into a digital traceable currency where every transaction is monitored, approved or denied, based upon your value to the tyrants whims. 

We need to be calling our Reps to say No. We need to stop this deal.

Let’s see if our so-called Utah conservatives vote no on this clown care package. 

Related Articles:

Unlimited Debt Leads to National Bankruptcy | Tenth Amendment Center  “During the current debt-ceiling crisis, one thing should be painfully clear to everyone: For those people who are advocating an increase in the debt ceiling, there is no maximum amount of debt that is too much for them. As far as they are concerned, the federal government should continue adding to its debt burden indefinitely into the future, no matter how high the debt becomes.

How do we know this? Because they never tell us what their particular debt maximum is. Every time the new debt ceiling is reached, they pound us with all sorts of dire things that will result from a “default.” But once they succeed in raising the debt ceiling, it’s always back to business as usual, with massive spending exceeding tax revenues, which means more borrowing and more debt.

But the statists don’t care about that. They know that U.S. officials can just keep borrowing the difference and adding to the federal debt load. They also know that when the debt ceiling is reached again in three years or so, they can pull out the old “default” scare and use it again to achieve another lifting of the debt ceiling. They do that every time a new debt ceiling is reached.

What will the statists say when bankruptcy day comes? I guarantee you: they will blame the crisis on the failure of America’s “free-enterprise system” and will be ecstatic that bankruptcy is equalizing everyone by making everyone poorer. The last thing they will do is accept individual responsibility for their own role in this destructive debacle.”

Republicans Fail on the Debt Ceiling in 2023 | Mises Wire “Declining to exercise leverage over the process, the Freedom Caucus is losing legitimacy and should rename itself the Freedom Lost Caucus.

Consider the categories of individuals, groups, and issues supposedly forming the base for the perpetual political success of a realigned Republican Party. Opportunities for conservatives include parents and parental rights, the working class composed of the poor and middle class who could benefit from capitalism and its attendant prosperity, senior citizens, and citizens desiring safety and security.

Significantly, Congress isn’t insisting on adherence to the Constitution with respect to regulations and executive orders. The Constitution authorizes only Congress to pass laws, and this authority may not be delegated. All regulations and executive orders must be submitted to Congress as proposals for additional legislation. Elected Republicans are sanguine that the regulatory state and imperial White House make their own laws thereby directly threatening liberty and prosperity.

Neither Donald Trump nor Ron DeSantis has heartburn. Trump’s first-term legacy was a reduction in the flow of illegal immigrants, regulatory state rollback, and the recission of Barack Obama’s executive orders. However, President Trump signed every massive omnibus spending bill, each with higher deficit spending, sent to his desk. As governor, DeSantis must balance the state budget, but the virtues of doing this at the national level elude him to the extent he can’t articulate why a balanced budget is necessary for liberty and prosperity.

What recourse do voters have? Primaries are rigged by the two political parties to return incumbents to office. Nevertheless, it is within primaries that authentic conservatives can be elected.The House bill raising the debt ceiling is good news for the wealthy. In the face of profligate congressional spending, the Fed must eventually relent and go back to monetary easing, which will reinflate the asset bubbles in the stock and residential housing markets. The wealthy, having a higher percentage of disposable income with which to invest, will benefit disproportionately. There will be a further increase in wealth inequality between the poor and middle class versus the wealthy.”

For those interested: here is full legislative text of the debt ceiling deal:

https://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20230529/BILLS-118hrPIH-fiscalresponsibility.pdf