American Analysis: The Balanced Budget, Debt Repayment, and Entitlements Protection Constitutional Convention

Thursday, September 26, 2024

The Balanced Budget, Debt Repayment, and Entitlements Protection Constitutional Convention

“When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic." Benjamin Franklyn

The national debt becomes a problem when we borrow to keep up with runaway entitlements, not for economic development, infrastructure projects, natural disasters, or wars. Entitlements, once given by the elected official, can never be taken back without losing their next election; in fact, the opposite is true.

This national debt is now over 35 trillion dollars, without counting state and local government debts and national unfunded obligations to Medicare and Social Security funds. Estimates for those run as high as over 70 trillion dollars of unpayable debt. These entitlement funds are not running out of money; their money has been stolen by Congress.

There is also inevitable emergency funding in our future for earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, forest fires, infrastructure crumbling, pandemics, a new cold war, hot wars, national workers strikes, a new space race, environmental protection, economic crisis, civil disorders, crime prevention, undocumented immigration, criminal justice reform, educational restructuring, … Where can money come from for any of these, if not from added national debt? The clock is ticking.

We desperately need a constitutional convention to pass a balanced budget amendment, a debt repayment amendment, and, finally, an entitlements protection amendment. Entitlements must be self-sufficient and immune from government borrowing. If left to Congress, the Social Security and Medicare Funds will always be in peril, and the promised bonanza from American energy will only result in a new spending orgy.