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May 15, 2023 - Doug Collins Podcast
26:59
Is the US broke or really broke?
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You want to listen to a podcast?
By who?
Georgia GOP Congressman Doug Collins.
How is it?
The greatest thing I have ever heard in my whole life.
I could not believe my ears.
In this house, wherever the rules are disregarded, chaos and mob rule.
It has been said today, where is bravery?
I'll tell you where bravery is found and courage is found.
It's found in this minority who has lived through the last year of nothing but rules being broken, people being put down, questions not being answered, and this majority say, be damned with anything else.
We're going to impeach and do whatever we want to do.
Why?
Because we won an election.
I guarantee you, one day you'll be back in the minority and it ain't gonna be that fun.
Hey everybody, welcome back to the podcast.
Just a minute, I'm going to lay out what you're hearing on the news.
And I know sometimes, we love to have fun here on the show, but as I like to say, sometimes you just gotta get into the, you know, the desserts are always nice and we like to laugh and we have to have fun, but sometimes you gotta have the spinach, so to speak, in your diet.
You gotta have the vitamins.
And today's gonna be one of those days where I wanna break down all you're hearing about the debt ceiling.
Now, going through the weekend, you know, the two sides are still negotiating.
And at the time of this taping, have not come up to an agreement yet, but they've basically began the process of What I'll call opening the door.
You're going to see where this is going, but I need you to understand why some of this works, why some of it doesn't work as we go forward.
So in just a few minutes, we're going to start talking about that as we go.
But first, we have to lay out here, as you heard on Friday Finest Podcast, the NFL schedule dropped.
The Falcons have the absolute easiest schedule from what was said about the proponents going into the next year.
So I predict a good seven and eight.
That's not enough games.
Well, I think maybe we break even.
Okay, I'm going here.
I'm not being optimistic.
But I did have found out yesterday confirmed after our conversations later in the day, the other day with James.
Vikings Raiders in December in Vegas.
I ain't saying.
I'm just saying.
Be prepared.
Go to the DougCollinsPodcast.com.
Keep up with any updates that may be happening there.
If you have any ideas on the NFL schedule, love to hear it.
Go to the podcast.
Go to the website.
Hit the email.
Let me hear about what you are thinking about as we go forward in this.
Also, As we look ahead into the future, we've got a lot more coming up on the podcast.
We'll have some more songwriters.
We've got some other stuff coming up.
I would love to make sure that you are always a part.
Hit the subscribe button on wherever you get your podcasts.
Make sure that you're up to date with every episode of the Doug Collins Podcast.
Let's dig in.
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All right.
Let's just lay the parameters here, starting out up front.
And I hear this a lot when it comes to the debt ceiling.
I hear people say, well, I don't want to raise the debt ceiling because I don't want you to spend more money.
Well, that's good in a long-term picture, but it's not good.
And if you have a podcast host or if you have somebody you see on TV that tells you that we can't raise the debt ceiling because that would make us spend more money, they don't have a real good idea of what the debt ceiling is.
Okay, the debt ceiling is something that has been put in place over time.
And it is the amount of money that prior Congresses could basically, knowing that they would spend up to and the spending that they would have based on the deficit of a year-to-year deficit, budget deficit, would still be under the debt ceiling.
And every so often, and it's come up more and more now in the last 15 to 20 years, the debt ceiling would be reached quicker and quicker.
Now, the debt ceiling is simply hitting a number that you've already spent.
Think about this like your credit card.
If you have a credit card that has $10,000 on it, you can spend up to that $10,000.
However, if you go out and buy Let's say you're at $9,000 on your credit card, and you go out and you purchase a $3,000 item.
You've either got to do one of two things, okay?
Let's think about this.
You've got to go pay your credit card balance down to keep it under the debt ceiling, under your debt ceiling, which is your credit card spending limit, so that you'd have $3,000 to spend, or you've got to raise your debt ceiling to cover the spending that you've already made.
Now, the problem in the federal government is we don't like to cut money that has already been spent.
Most of this money has already been spent and multiply over the past decades has come up and hit.
So you're having to go back and would have to recapture other spending, not just one spending item.
So what is happening here is the debt ceiling is having to be raised to cover spending already approved and already made by the United States Congress.
Now, I know that is an interesting issue and some of you are sitting here saying, well, just cut spending now.
Yeah.
Okay.
This is the problem.
The money's already spent.
Okay?
So you either print more money, borrow more money, or you raise the debt ceiling.
This is your choices.
That's why the debt ceiling has become such a problematic issue here.
Now, has it always been like this?
No, it hasn't.
There was a rule called the Gephardt rule.
Named after the leader in the Democratic Party named Dick Gephardt.
He ran for president multiple times.
But it was a rule that was put in that said every time that you passed your budget or your spending package, it would automatically cover for what the debt would increase.
Okay, so you never really voted on the debt ceiling increase until really it was the...
About the mid-2000s, I think it was, when the Republicans decided, no, this is going to be a separate vote.
We're going to make sure that people understand how badly our budgets are off and that we're going to actually have this as a separate vote.
So as you look at this, understanding the debt ceiling is being raised for monies that have already been spent.
Now, would it be nice just to say all of a sudden, You know, you don't spend any more in the budget this year to cover that cost.
Like my credit card analogy just a few minutes ago, well, that'll be fine, except you're dealing in a government situation where it would be salaries, it would be layoffs, it would be things that would affect the economy, and frankly, it's just not gonna happen.
You already spent the money, it's already been approved in the money.
So what you gotta do is look forward to say, how do we slow the growth to the debt ceiling?
Because here's the problem.
You have to understand this.
Even with this, if the, let me just back up here a second.
If the Republican bill, which was passed out of the House, which had several things we're going to talk about here in a minute, was completely passed.
I think the number they were talking about was $4 trillion in savings over a 10-year period.
That doesn't mean you're never going to have another debt ceiling increase.
In fact, for whatever, nobody's mentioned this, but except in passing, it says how long you want to extend this debt ceiling for.
And, you know, most of them have said, you know, you're hearing the number now, two years is going to be probably the number, which is about right, because it'll get you through the next election cycle into the next Congress and let the other Congress deal with it, so to speak.
After an election, let the new president deal with it and go from there.
If you understand it in those terms, that means that you're sitting here saying, well, Doug, if we pass these spending cuts, then why do we have to raise the debt so in the future?
Well, the reason is, is because our budget is not in balance.
This is a part, and I hope you will share this podcast.
I'm trying to keep this very simple.
You know, and if you're out there as an economist, you're trying to nitpick this, then go find someplace else.
You know, go, because I'm putting it in very simple terms for people to understand, because I think one of the biggest issues in Washington, D.C. is we speak in Washington speak.
We speak in, you know, the idea of a cut being a cut when it was really a projected increase that you only cut 50%, and now you're calling it a 50% cut when it's actually a 50% increase.
Confused now?
This is what Washington does with numbers.
You thought new math was bad.
You thought for all you common core folks that math was bad.
Go to D.C. and look at how they do math.
So as you look at this, the debt budget is still not in balance.
The debt center has nothing with a balanced budget attached to it.
It doesn't even discuss a balanced budget.
It doesn't even discuss the appropriations process, which it may be putting caps on it.
But again, cap simply says you're capping the limit of growth, not cutting.
I know this is frustrating.
I know it's frustrating for you because you can't do this in your own budget.
You've got to make real decisions on how you balance a budget so that you don't either run yourself completely into debt or you start bouncing checks.
Well, Congress just doesn't do it this way.
And so as I discuss this a little bit further, I want you to understand that the basic premise here is that this debt ceiling will continue to have to increase at a regular pace until The budget itself is balanced or actually in a revenue-producing mode.
In other words, you're able to put some money in savings.
Until that happens, this debt ceiling is going to continue because every year we add to the current $30 trillion debt.
I mean, that's just, again, it's amazing to me because it's increased almost $10 trillion in the last 10 years.
It's just amazing.
So, I hope you, before we discuss these, quote, solutions, you realize that the real solution here is not the debt ceiling.
The debt ceiling is a help.
The debt ceiling is leverage.
The debt ceiling is making Biden and the Democrats in the Senate say, okay, what can we do to appease the Republicans or come into this situation where we give them...
Something that they want, so we don't default on this debt, because I don't think the American people are going to actually believe us if we don't actually come up with something we give, and they're going to blame us in the election cycle as well.
Again, all of this is politically motivated, all of this is politically generated drama, and you're going to see some of this come out.
So my question to all is, then what does the debt ceiling actually mean?
The debt ceiling is simply a way to, again, to set the parameters of discussion for future appropriations and budget talks.
The budget is a fictional concept in D.C. right now.
We've not done a budget that actually was held to in years.
It's an aspirational document, if you would.
And if you don't believe, though, that is a political document, then ask Ron DeSantis, who right now is getting hammered by former President Trump over his, quote, votes to cut Social Security and raise the retirement age.
Where did those votes come from?
They didn't actually come from a vote of anything that became law.
It didn't come from an actual bill that dealt specifically with Social Security or raising the retirement age.
They came from budgets that had no hope of passing, but they were put forward as aspirational documents, so to speak, of what we could do if we decided to actually balance the budget in a short amount of time.
They were the Republican Study Committee budgets, if you look at those.
So again, Everything in Washington, D.C. is political.
Everything in Washington, D.C. has a tinge to it that keeps it from being honestly discussed.
So this is why I wanted to lay out that foundation for you to understand that we're not raising the debt ceiling to spend more money.
And I know some of you will argue, well, yes, you are.
No, we're not.
Because nobody is saying, with a straight face, Then we're going to just start slashing the federal budget.
I mean, the federal appropriation package.
We're just not going to do it.
So what you got to do is figure out how do we move forward in setting proper limits to slower the growth over time so that we don't come to the debt students as quickly without destroying the economy and at the same point, stimulating the economy so that the economy, when the economic, the GDP rises, everything else gets better too.
Including tax revenues, everything else.
We've proven that over and over again.
We showed that after the Tax Cuts and Job Act that we passed with Donald Trump.
We saw the economy get better.
We saw the, you know, people start going to work.
We saw this before the pandemic started.
And for Joe Biden to say that he's created all this stuff after the pandemic is just a farcical lie.
These were people coming back to work from jobs that were already there that were shut down because of the pandemic.
So as we look at this, what does it mean?
What does it mean for you and for me as we take a look?
Well, let's do a few things that are being talked about here.
Number one, and this one is one that is hard for me in my mind to, and if you go back and read a lot of conservative thought, Conservatives do not do a very good job at expressing our concern for those who are struggling.
I'll just be honest.
And I've talked about this on this podcast.
I've talked about it in speeches.
I talk about it a lot, that we've got to get better at understanding the way people feel.
That doesn't mean that you rack everything on feeling.
Or emotion, which is a bad idea, which Democrats do all the time.
But at the same point in time, if people don't think you care about their situation, if you don't care about where they're at in life, then they're going to look at you as cold and heartless and they're not going to listen to your programs.
The actual truth is that conservatives believe work is good, work is valid, work is affirming.
I don't care what you do in this world, whatever you're listening to this podcast, if you clean tables, if you drive a truck, you work in a police department, you work in government, maybe you're retired, whatever, your work is valuable.
Inherently, work is good.
For the young person who's working at McDonald's, thank you for what you do.
I'm so glad that you're working at McDonald's when I want to get something for breakfast.
I'm so glad that the staff at our hotels Are there so that I can have a clean room to stay in when I'm traveling around.
It is not glamorous.
It is not, you know, there, but it is most needed and it is valued.
And work should be valued.
One of the issues is being discussed.
And the Democrats just completely go bonkers on this.
It's work requirements.
And that is putting work restrictions or new restrictions on programs like, you know, with food stamps and maybe even Medicaid.
But this is something that, you know, is, again, become a lightning rod.
You're going to hear a lot about this.
I don't understand how, you know, the Democrats fight against this because inherently, which would you rather people do?
Get a check at a job that is giving them work and dignity and giving them the ability to say, I've earned this on my own, or sending them a check through the mail in which they don't do anything for, which perpetuates this cycle of poverty, successfully sacrifices this idea that work is good.
And if we undermine the fact that work is good in this country, then we're already heading toward a That will then compound on everything.
So again, work requirements.
Clinton signed work requirements.
There was a lot of things that worked in welfare reform back in the 90s that we sort of went away from that need to be brought back in.
But I will tell you, as much as logic says that's a good idea, Democrats, they enjoy giving out checks and they enjoy undoubtedly diminishing the role of work in everyday life.
And I think this is, in the competitive system of capitalism that we have, they are just, you know, simply opposed to.
So we'll see how this goes.
Don't think it's going...
This is one I'm not sure actually will make it into the final plan, but we'll see it.
Another one that...
Could actually get there.
And the reason I say this can actually get there is because Joe Manchin and some of the other Democrats have an issue with this energy permitting.
They tried to get this around.
This was the big deal with Joe Manchin during Build Back Manchin and Build Back Better.
Manchin wanted a better energy permit.
But remember, Joe Biden and his administration from day one have declared absolute, utter warfare on our energy system.
Production in this country.
From pipeline permitting to drilling permitting to, you know, just the whole way that the Green Deal part was worked out in the infrastructure bill last year.
They have just made the incentives for our having reliable, cheap energy sources have been very much curtailed.
But this is something that is a talking point, at least for some Democrats, that you may get some movement on.
Manchin was already moving a bill that could have some support, both Republicans and Democrats.
I think there's some areas here.
But this is important.
For years and years and years, we struggled.
In manufacturing and others because we have the best workforce.
We have the best equipment.
But energy cost was one of those things that also kept businesses from bringing jobs into our country or keeping jobs here in our country.
And a few years ago, when we became energy independent, we were actually shipping natural gas overseas.
We were actually the producer that we are.
The economy and all was booming.
Biden has made this drastic shift with his climate change-driven economic agenda, which is, again, putting places like West Virginia and Texas and North Dakota and all these energy-producing states in just a bad position because they have been completely sold out on trying to do away with the fossil fuel.
So, look for this.
Democrats have some agreement here in moving some of these projects, and that is one of the things that I think Garrett Grays, who is one of the ones helping McCarthy, leading out this on helping negotiate this deal, who is from Louisiana, which is an oil-producing state, could be something here.
The other one that is...
I think that Republicans and Democrats both could get on, because I actually heard Joe Biden say this the other night in his presser, was that the monies that we gave to states for COVID that have not been spent.
Now, there will be some discussion on, well, the money is going to be spent, it's just that they're having to replenish supplies, whatever it may be.
But I think most people believe that the 50, 60 billion number that I've heard thrown out there, again, is a small fraction of the budget.
Don't get me wrong, we're not fixing the world here.
But it is something that symbolically could be clawed back, applied to deficit reduction, however you want to look at it.
And look, so this is, again, if you have money that is out there, it's like for those of you budget.
If you budgeted for, let's just say you budgeted for a...
You know, a vacation this year, but then in the end, you didn't get to take that vacation.
You can either simply leave that money in that envelope, so to speak, and wait for the next vacation, or you can take that money and reappropriate it to, like, the tires on your car, which you didn't expect were going flat.
I mean, again, it's just finding, you know, more productive ways to use that money, or you can move it to savings, and then, again, you're free to use it however you want to do it.
So these COVID callbacks, is what they're called, are something that You know, will be interesting to see if there's anything that they can get there.
In the end of the day, the caps issue, which is the other issue, and that is capping spending.
So again, please, please, please hear me.
Caps are not cuts.
Caps are not cuts.
But caps can be interesting in the sense that they don't work the way you want them to do.
Let's go back in time and history.
I've already heard Democrats and some Republicans talk about this.
2011-2012 was the fiscal cliff.
If you ever want to watch a great documentary, the PBS Frontline called The Fiscal Cliff from February of 2013 is worth going back and looking at at this point in time.
Um, it was the, when they could not come to a deal on the budget, they came up into the fact of, uh, that they had the super committee, so to speak, and then a sequestration.
In other words, you would take cut, automatic cuts would be made if a new budget resolution was not, or a new resolution was not passed.
So all of a sudden you had, and the deal was, it was supposed to be, uh, basically the same cuts out of defense as there was out of, of, uh, the other non-discretionary programs or discretionary programs.
So in other words, you had Defense Department absorbing 50%.
You had all the rest of government absorbing 50%.
The problem with that is, if you have one organization absorbing 50% of whatever cuts there are that year, and the other side of the ledger is absorbing the 50%, but you've got 150, 200 different agencies, and I'm being kind here, dividing up that 50%, It doesn't affect those agencies near as much as it does, like say, Department of Defense.
And in Department of Defense, sequestration was absolutely horrific when it came down to our military readiness and maintenance and stuff.
We had F-18s that could not fly.
We had, at one point in time, I think it was between a third and a half of the F-18 fleet of planes could not fly.
We started seeing more and more accidents.
If you remember during the 2016, 2017 timeframe, we were having more training accidents.
Why?
Because the pilots weren't able to get their hours in.
The training hours were cut back.
So our military suffered in that.
You'll hear a lot over this next time until this is done about those caps and what sequestration did to our federal budget.
Now, from a positive perspective, that just mandatory ham-handed cuts did slow the growth.
It did slow our budget deficits.
It did slow those things.
But again, they did it in such a way that it'd be like going into your home family budget and looking at everything and saying, okay, well, we're going to cut our cable bill, but since we cut our cable package from $40 to $20, we're now going to cut our food budget from $100 to $50.
It's like, okay, you still need to eat.
There's other things that you can cut, but if you're forced to cut everything equally, that's what happens.
So this idea, many of you will hear, well, just cut everything across the board by 10%, 15%.
Well, that's great until you start looking at the specifics.
Okay, well, should I cut 10% out of my food budget as opposed to maybe 20% out of my clothing budget?
Again, these are ideas I know that are simple to most.
And if you're walking today, you're on a treadmill, or you're riding in your car, I'm trying to give you ideas to look at how this situation is developing.
And really, the honest answer is in simply saying, we're going to cut this department and that department.
This is not what the debt ceiling is about.
You want to do that?
Go to the appropriations process, which we'll have another...
I'll have a...
They're getting ready to get started on that here in the next few weeks.
I'll do a podcast on the appropriations process and what's actually involved.
That's where you actually make real change.
You want to make real change in the budget?
You want to make real change in cuts?
It's got to come in the appropriations process, not this issue of the debt zone.
So, as we look at this today, I didn't want to go long, I didn't want to bore you as much as I could, but I wanted to give you this idea, if you're listening to this podcast, share this podcast, share it with others, go to the follow button, hit the subscribe, whatever it takes, and get this out to other people so that they'll understand, you know, in broad stroke details, what's being discussed here.
Now, there could be some other stuff that come in, you know, to play here, some immigration stuff, there could be some other things always thrown in at the last minute, negotiations like this.
Always tend to bring out at least some surprises, but at least at this point, this is what's being laid out.
This is what the future looks like, and the debt is something that we've already spent the money for.
We don't want to continue.
We already got our debt ground, our debt rating, uh, So, this does matter to you.
It's not just simply something in Washington, D.C., but I wanted you to have the resources and tools to know this is what's being said.
This is what's being talked about.
That's why you come here, I hope.
Continue to listen.
Go to DougCollinsPodcast.com.
Hit that email button.
Send me any emails that you have, any questions you might have.
Share this podcast so that we can get the truth out there while we watch them put together, hopefully, what will be a debt ceiling deal sometime in the near future.
Thanks.
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