Whistling Past a $1.9 Trillion Federal Deficit

If Trump won’t press Harris on too much spending, nobody will.

The Editorial Board Aug. 12, 2024 at 5:42 pm

Ten months into the fiscal year, and the U.S. government is running a deficit of $1.52 trillion, with a few hundred billion dollars of additional red ink still expected to be spilled before Sept. 30. That’s according to the Treasury Department’s latest monthly statement of receipts and outlays, the July edition, posted Monday. Read it and weep, because America’s leaders aren’t.

The cumulative receipts for the year so far total $4.09 trillion, including $2.04 trillion of individual income taxes, $1.44 trillion coming from social insurance and retirement programs, and $413 billion in corporate income taxes. Alas, the government’s outlays total $5.6 trillion, including $1.21 trillion for Social Security, $763 billion in net interest, and $721 billion for Medicare. Spending on national defense, to compare, is $715 billion.

The Treasury report says its estimate of the deficit for the full fiscal year is $1.87 trillion. This ought to be an astounding figure during peacetime and without a recession or any kind of a national emergency. Yet many politicians in Washington seem inured to the numbers, as if boring accountants can’t tell American voters what’s possible or how to feel about the country’s future. Simply imagine what can be, unburdened by what has been, as Vice President Kamala Harris sometimes says.

The deficit and debt should be a big topic of debate during the 2024 election, and one that probably wouldn’t redound to Ms. Harris’s benefit. For one thing, she could be forced to defend the spending binge that has taken place on President Biden’s watch, as well as the 9.1% year-over-year inflation that his policies helped to ignite.

Despite taking over as the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate, Ms. Harris keeps talking like it’s her job to finish Mr. Biden’s Build Back Better agenda, promising a future of “affordable health care, affordable child care, and paid family leave,” courtesy of Uncle Sam. How much will all of this cost? How does she propose to pay for it? Has she even thought about it?

No one seems much inclined to make her answer these questions. Ms. Harris isn’t sitting for interviews with even friendly journalists who might pry out some details of how she intends to govern. And Donald Trump seems more interested in demanding credit for his tax-free-tips brainstorm (see nearby), while claiming that Ms. Harris is faking pictures of her rallies. “Has anyone noticed that Kamala CHEATED at the airport?” Mr. Trump asked. “There was nobody at the plane, and she ‘A.I.’d’ it, and showed a massive ‘crowd.’”

Politicians can look away from the spending problem, but the fiscal math can’t be escaped.

Journal Editorial Report: The Democrats offer voters two proven progressives. Photo: Matthew Hatcher/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images