Title: The Debt Squeeze Is Finally Upon Us
Original CoS Document (slug): the-debt-squeeze-is-finally-upon-us
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Created: 2022-11-29 16:38:07
Updated: 2022-12-13 10:28:02
Published: 2022-11-30 00:00:00
Converted: 2025-04-14T21:21:13.255893888
According to the CBO’s Long-Term Budget Outlook Report in 2022, our country’s soaring national debt is about to hit home.
Please take a moment to appreciate the worrisome angle of the red debt curve below:
Soaring National Debt x Rising Interest Rates = Gigantic Interest Payments
Our federal government finances the national debt by selling Treasury Bills that pay interest.
The interest payments on the Treasury Bills are growing so large, that they will crowd out traditional government spending and cripple the American economy. Interest payments will become the government’s largest expenditure.
Consequences of the debt squeeze
The burden of these interest payments will be too large for any single group of Americans to absorb. Instead, the pain will be shared by everyone through increased taxes and reductions in government services:
· Those citizens that are still working and collecting a paycheck will likely see a significant increase in their payroll taxes and income taxes.
· Those citizens who have retired and no longer receive a paycheck will likely suffer significant cuts in critical government services including Social Security and Medicare.
This is not a Democrat vs Republican issue!
The debt chart above demonstrates that the blame for reckless deficit spending belongs to both Democrats and Republicans alike:
· Both parties have voted for the various spending bills
· Both parties have voted to increase the debt limit year after year
What is the root cause of deficit spending?
When you “follow the money”, you see that federal legislators frequently authorize government spending that benefits entities who turn around and donate money (and votes) back to the legislators’ campaigns.
This cycle of mutual enrichment allows such legislators to remain in office for decades. Over the last 30 years, the average re-election rate in Congress is 94%.
Unless something is done to fundamentally change the current system, these federal legislators will NEVER leave office and will NEVER relinquish their power to spend the people's money for their ambitions.
A viable solution is sitting right under our noses
Fortunately, our country’s founders provided a remedy for such a situation.
Article V of the US Constitution allows the state legislatures to bypass the federal government and call a convention of states to propose constitutional amendments that address our runaway federal government.
To coordinate such an effort, Convention of States Action (COSA), has recruited an army of over 5 million grassroots supporters in all 50 states to lobby their state legislators to support a convention of states that addresses 3 specific areas of government overreach:
1. Constrain federal spending
2. Impose Term Limits on federal officials and members of congress
3. Constrain federal regulatory powers
There’s strong support for COSA
19 states have already signed up for a convention of states, and we need just 15 more states to reach the required 34 (two-thirds). See the map below.
It’s time for Pennsylvania to sign on
In 2023, legislation to support a convention of states will be introduced in the PA state legislature.
The fastest way to get your legislators’ support is to go to the COS website and add your name to the online petition. It takes less than 2 minutes, and you will be joining the other 97,000 COSA supporters in PA.
You can also contact your legislators directly via email or phone call to let them know that you support COSA's concurrent resolutions to add PA to the list of states calling for the convention. Since most voters won't take the time to do this, the voters that do this will stand out prominently.
If you have already signed the petition, thank you! Please help boost our numbers by asking your like-minded family and friends to sign the petition.