Off the Editor’s Desk 11-27-24

Spending too much or not collecting enough?

The other morning while I was listing to a radio program I was treated to one of the differences between the Republican and Democratic parties about our nation’s debt, that could top a hundred trillion dollars within 15 years.

Republicans say we spend too much, Democrats say we have a collection problem, and they say the rich are not paying their share of taxes.

Information that I have looked at indicated that the IRS is set to take in hundreds of billions of dollars more from overdue and unpaid taxes than they had expected to collect. Tax revenues are poised to rise by as much as $561 billion from 2024 to 2034 from stepped-up collections through the Inflation Reduction Act.

But, if we don’t slow our spending, we will need ten times that amount in tax collections over the next ten years to keep up with our spending. 

Currently the national debt is somewhere around $36 trillion dollars with total interest paid at $5.3 trillion according to the national debt clock as of last Friday.

So, the only thing to say is we need to slow our spending and make sure every taxpayer is forking over what they should pay and we need to get that debt down to a figure that we can support.

A short history of Thanksgiving—What we have celebrated as Thanksgiving is the feast that the Pilgrims and the Native People gathered together for in 1621. But, there are other events that could signal the first Thanksgiving, including when in 1565, Spanish explorer Pedro Menendez invited members of the local Timucua tribe to a dinner in St. Augustine, Florida, after holding a mass to thank God for his crew’s safe arrival.

Little is known about the Pilgrims’ 1621 fest, except what was written by Edward Winslow, who penned the following.

“Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together, after we had gathered the fruits of our labors; they four in one day killed as much fowl, as with a little help beside, served the Company almost a week, at which time amongst other Recreations, we exercised out Arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and amongst the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five Deer, which they brought to the Plantation and bestowed on our Governor, and upon the Captain and others. And although it be not always so plentiful, as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want, that we often wish you partakers of our plenty.”

Thanks for reading!     ~Carlton