American Budget and Debt: Flyby's Takeaways

The Harvard Political Review released the Fiscal Year 2012 Annual Report of the U.S.A. last week, offering an analysis of the federal budget and challenges facing American spending policy.

Coincidentally, the report was published just hours before Congressional leaders announced that they had hammered out a deal to end the federal government shutdown, which began on October 1.

Flyby took a look at the numbers and decided that the best way to make sense of them was to put them in terms of three things we care about and think you probably do too—Ted Cruz, the Affordable Care Act, and the government shutdown.

ARUSA: As of January 2, 2013, the U.S. government held a total of $16.4 trillion in outstanding debt.
Flyby: If Affordable Care Act naysayers protest the health exchange enough, it will only take about 173.8 billion people to opt out of healthcare, at a cost of $95 to each, to pay off the nation’s debt. Unfortunately, the United States’ population is less than 314 million. Though many immigration reform opponents are the same politicians who oppose the ACA, they could potentially pay off the national debt if they convinced enough people to immigrate to the US and then opt out of health care. Good luck.

ARUSA: This $16.4 trillion debt represents a 55 percent increase in gross debt in less than four years.
Flyby: Meanwhile, Ted Cruz’s Political Action Committee raked in almost twice as much money in the quarter lasting from July 1 to Sept. 30 as it did in the previous quarter. Filibustering, it seems, is a lucrative endeavor.

ARUSA: The government owes more than $52,000 for every person living in the U.S., including children, the elderly, and the unemployed.
Flyby: It would take Ted Cruz, with his annual salary of $174,000, about 91.5 million years to independently finance this reimbursement. Start filibustering, Senator.

ARUSA: The federal government accumulated a total deficit of $1.33 trillion in FY 2012.
Flyby: This is approximately 54 times greater than the estimated cost of the government shutdown to the American economy. But it’s okay, because Ted Cruz pledged to donate his salary to charity for each day that the shutdown lasted, a total of roughly $7,800. Maybe if the shutdown lasted a little longer, Mr. Cruz could finance the debt reduction efforts.