"Up, up and away!" Superman used to exclaim as he took flight. Today, he could say that about our federal budget deficits.
Which do you think is more troubling: that our nation's $221 billion deficit in February was the highest monthly deficit in history -- or that deficit spending keeps breaking so many records that it has become almost routine?
The Treasury Department said February's $221 billion deficit -- the amount the federal government spent beyond what it collected in revenue -- was 14 percent higher than the previous record, which coincidentally occurred in February 2009.
Meanwhile, our total national debt is around $12.5 trillion and is rapidly moving toward a $14.3 trillion "debt limit" that does nothing to limit debt. Congress will simply approve a new and higher limit when it hits $14.3 trillion.
And it isn't just the fact that we eventually have to repay that debt -- somehow. As anyone with a home mortgage knows, debt isn't "free." In fiscal year 2011 alone, the United States will have to pay $499 billion -- half a trillion dollars -- strictly in interest on the national debt! That's money that cannot be used for other, constitutional purposes of government, or for leaving more money in taxpayers' pockets to get the economy moving.
Paying down the deficit won't come easily or quickly. But it will never come if Washington keeps imposing things such as trillion-dollar-plus ObamaCare and other unconstitutional spending. Shouldn't we insist that Congress cut -- rather than increase -- federal spending?