The Silent Price You’ll Pay for Our Mounting National Debt – WSJ

The cost of borrowing is near untenable levels. If we aren’t already in a ‘doom loop,’ we’re getting close.

By Red Jahncke – President, Townsend Group International, LLC

WSJ, Sept. 29, 2022 – Excerpts:

… The gross interest expense on the national debt hit $88 billion in August, according to the Monthly Treasury Statement. That’s $1.06 trillion a year.

Interest on the national debt is exploding and heading toward what economists refer to as a “doom loop”—the vicious circle in which the government’s borrowing to pay interest generates yet more interest and yet more borrowing.

Net interest expense (gross expense minus the interest received) hit $63 billion in August, or $756 billion a year. That’s a lot of money in the context of a $6 trillion federal budget and a $25 trillion economy.

The August numbers barely reflect the impact of the Fed’s interest-rate hikes between March and July, much less last Wednesday’s increase and the additional 1.25% by year’s end implied by the Fed’s new guidance. It’s highly likely that gross interest expense will rise well above $1 trillion a year and surpass Social Security as the largest item in the federal budget.

The Fed’s more hawkish guidance calls for “higher rates for longer,” even if it brings on recession. The central bank is also shrinking its holdings of Treasurys under its quantitative-tightening policy, requiring the Treasury Department to find alternative buyers. Weak demand will likely push rates higher, if not destabilize the Treasury market to some degree.

Yet even if the Fed backs off, or recession intervenes, that won’t relieve pressure on Uncle Sam.

Treasury debt has reached record levels, and higher federal interest expense is already baked in. That will constrain Washington’s capacity to deliver fiscal stimulus to a struggling economy during the next recession. Constrained or not, the government will doubtless attempt to do so. That means issuing more debt, since the federal budget is in perpetual deficit.

That is exactly what has happened in the past 2½ years: Uncle Sam issued $7 trillion of new debt during the Covid pandemic, which took publicly held national debt to its present $24 trillion up from $17 trillion in February 2020.

… In principal amount, the national debt has exploded and the cost of debt service is escalating, too. The current $756 billion annual net interest expense on the $24 trillion of publicly held debt implies a required economic growth rate of more than 3% in a $25 trillion economy in order for the debt “not to matter.” The average forecast for economic growth in calendar year 2022 is less than 1%, and many economists expect negative growth—i.e., recession—in 2023.

Not only are rising interest rates driving up federal interest expense dramatically; inflation is propelling growth in government spending. Social Security benefits are adjusted based on the average of the consumer-price index reports for July, August and September each year. We have reports for two months and don’t need the third to know that benefits will increase next year to roughly $1.3 trillion from $1.2 trillion (or more than 8%).

Healthcare costs always exceed the rate of inflation, too. That guarantees double-digit growth next year in Medicare from about $710 billion in fiscal 2022 based on the first 11 months, and in the other government healthcare programs categorized as “health” in the Monthly Treasury Statement, which amounted to $915 billion in fiscal 2022. Assuming only 10% healthcare inflation, these two categories combined will grow by $163 billion.

Naturally, if we do slip—or plummet—into a serious recession, federal income-tax revenue will erode. Even before recession, the past nine months of declining stock and bond prices virtually assure an almost complete collapse in capital-gains-tax revenue come tax time next April. Loss of that category alone—which averages about 12% of federal individual income-tax revenue—will necessitate hundreds of billions in borrowing to replace lost revenue.

Inflation and interest rates are inflicting painful damage today. Yet seemingly without notice the national debt is working like a cancer sapping the nation’s long-term economic vitality.

Whether we reach the “doom loop,” or just become mired in stagflation, unchecked government spending and mounting national debt will drain all growth potential from the national economy sooner rather than later.

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America’s Powerhouse Solution:

The Leviticus 25 Plan will generate $583 billion federal budget surpluses for each of the first 5 years of activation (2023-2027), and completely pay for itself over the next 10-15 years.

The Leviticus 25 Plan is a dynamic economic initiative providing direct liquidity benefits for American families, while at the same time scaling back the role of government in managing and controlling the affairs of citizens.  It is a comprehensive plan with long-term economic and social benefits for citizens and government.

The inspiration for this plan is based upon Biblical principles set forth in the Book of Leviticus, principles tendering direct economic liberties to the people.

The Leviticus 25 Plan – An Economic Acceleration Plan for America 2023

Economic Scoring links:

·  The Leviticus 25 Plan 2023 – $583 billion Federal Budget Surpluses (2023-2027), Part 1: Overview, Deficit Projection

·  The Leviticus 25 Plan 2023 – $583 Billion Federal Budget Surpluses Annually (2023-2027), Part 2: Federal Income Tax and Means-Tested Welfare Recapture Benefits.

·  The Leviticus 25 Plan 2023 – $583 Billion Federal Budget Surpluses Annually (2023-2027), Part 3: Medicaid/CHIP and Medicare Recapture Benefits

·  The Leviticus 25 Plan 2023 – $583 Billion Federal Budget Surpluses Annually (2023-2027), Part 4: VA, TRICARE, FEHB, SSDI Recapture Benefits

·  The Leviticus 25 Plan 2023 – $583 Billion Federal Budget Surpluses Annually (2023-2027), Part 5: Subtotals, Interest Expense Savings, Summary

Full Plan:Leviticus 25 Plan 2023 (3958 downloads)  

Website:   https://Leviticus25Plan.org

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Preview 1:

The Leviticus 25 Plan provides a $90,000 credit extension, direct from the Federal Reserve, to every participating U.S. citizen:  $60,000 into a Family Account (FA) and $30,000 into a Medical Savings Account (MSA).

Example:  Qualifying family of four would receive $240,000 in their FA, and $120,000 in their MSA.

Primary goals:  Massive debt elimination at family level: mortgage debt, consumer debt, student loan debt.  Federal budget surpluses.

Eligibility:  U.S. Citizen.  Job history, credit history requirement (similar to traditional credit checks for bank loans).  Clean recent drug history.  Clean crime history.

Requirements:  Forego all federal and state tax refunds for 5-year period.

Forego selected means-tested welfare benefits – for minimum 5-year period.

Forego all income security program benefits – for minimum 5-year period.

Forego new federally-subsidized ‘Family Medical Leave’ benefits – for minimum 5-year period.

Forego Child Tax Credit benefits – for minimum 5-year period.

Forego enhanced federal rental forbearance/assistance – for minimum 5-year period.

Forego SSI and SSDI for minimum 5-year period.

New $6,000 deductible on primary care access to: Medicare, Medicaid, VA, TRICARE, FEHB – for minimum 5-year period.

The Plan assumes that the elite-wealthy will not participate, because their refunds are too valuable to give up over the requisite 5-year period.

The Plan also assumes that many who heavily depend on social welfare benefits will also choose not to participate, because the overriding value of those benefits, vs foregoing them, over the 5-year period.

M. Stanton Evans, Sep 11, 1960:

“That foremost among the transcendent values is the individual’s use of his God-given free will, whence derives his right to be free from the restrictions of arbitrary force;

That liberty is indivisible, and that political freedom cannot long exist without economic freedom;

That the purpose of government is to protect those freedoms through the preservation of internal order, the provision of national defense, and the administration of justice;

That when government ventures beyond these rightful functions, it accumulates power, which tends to diminish order and liberty;

That the Constitution of the United States is the best arrangement yet devised for empowering government to fulfill its proper role, while restraining it from the concentration and abuse of power;

That the genius of the Constitution—the division of powers—is summed up in the clause that reserves primacy to the several states, or to the people, in those spheres not specifically delegated to the Federal government;

That the market economy, allocating resources by the free play of supply and demand, is the single economic system compatible with the requirements of personal freedom and constitutional government, and that it is at the same time the most productive supplier of human needs;

That when government interferes with the work of the market economy, it tends to reduce the moral and physical strength of the nation; that when it takes from one man to bestow on another, it diminishes the incentive of the first, the integrity of the second, and the moral autonomy of both;

That we will be free only so long as the national sovereignty of the United States is secure; that history shows periods of freedom are rare, and can exist only when free citizens concertedly defend their rights against all enemies;

That the forces of international Communism are, at present, the greatest single threat to these liberties.”

The Nation’s Fiscal Health: Federal Action Critical to Pivot toward Fiscal Sustainability   

GAO-22-105376 Published: May 05, 2022. Publicly Released: May 05, 2022 – Excerpts:

The federal government faces an unsustainable fiscal future. If policies don’t change, debt will continue to grow faster than the economy. This year’s review of the nation’s fiscal health found:

• Large annual budget deficits drive debt growth, as the government borrows money to finance spending that exceeds revenue
• Medicare and Social Security costs drive spending increases, especially as the population continues to get older
• Interest costs are projected to grow and could increase even faster if interest rates rise more than expected

Difficult policy decisions are needed to address the growing debt and change the government’s fiscal path.

What GAO Found

The federal government faces an unsustainable fiscal future. At the end of fiscal year 2021, debt held by the public was about 100 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), a 33 percent increase from fiscal year 2019. Projections from the Office of Management and Budget and the Department of the Treasury, the Congressional Budget Office, and GAO all show that current fiscal policy is unsustainable over the long term. Debt held by the public is projected to reach its historical high of 106 percent of GDP within 10 years and continue to grow at an increasing pace. This ratio could reach 217 percent of GDP by 2050, absent any change in fiscal policy.

Debt Held by the Public Projected to Grow Faster Than GDP

The underlying conditions driving this unsustainable fiscal outlook existed well before the COVID-19 pandemic and continue to pose serious challenges if not addressed.

Federal Budget Deficit in Fiscal Year 2021 was Second Largest in History

The fiscal year 2021 federal budget deficit of $2.8 trillion was the second largest in history, after the fiscal year 2020 deficit of $3.1 trillion. These historically large deficits were due primarily to economic disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic—which decreased revenues in fiscal year 2020—and the additional spending by the federal government in response to the pandemic. Federal debt held by the public grew by about $5.5 trillion during fiscal years 2020 and 2021, reaching $22.3 trillion at the end of fiscal year 2021.

Increasingly Large Deficits Drive Unsustainable Debt Levels

In GAO’s simulation, starting in 2024, debt held by the public grows faster than GDP in every year. In most years, debt held by the public grows more than twice as fast as the economy, in real terms. The growing debt is a consequence of borrowing to finance increasingly large annual budget deficits. The total budget deficit is composed of two parts:

• The primary deficit: the gap between non-interest (program) spending and revenue and
• Spending on net interest: primarily the cost to service the debt.

Primary Deficit and Total Budget Deficit, Actual and Projected

In GAO’s simulation, increasing primary deficits are driving spending and revenue trends.

• Spending: Medicare, other federal health care programs, and Social Security are requiring an increasingly large share of federal resources. Under GAO’s simulation, spending for both major federal health care programs and Social Security would account for 85 percent of projected revenue in 2050, up from 63 percent in 2019.
• Revenue: Average annual revenue as a share of GDP was lower over the last 20 years than in prior decades. From 2000 to 2021, revenue averaged 16.8 percent of GDP annually, compared to annual average of 17.9 percent of GDP between 1980 and 2000.

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Note – There is ‘no political will’ among either Washington Democrats or Washington Republicans to effect any meaningful changes to address the GAO’s dire fiscal forecast for the U.S..

Their non-action is both shameful and dangerous.

Main Street Republicans, however, do have a plan – one that re-targets Federal Reserve monetary policy to create enormous fiscal benefits and long-term financial viability for the United States.

This Plan will generate $583 billion budget surpluses, conservatively, each of the first five years of activation (2023-2027); reduce / eliminate America’s $3.2 trillion in state and local debt; and provided for a massive reduction in the $16.15 trillion of Household Debt carried by America’s families.

The Leviticus 25 Plan is a dynamic economic initiative providing direct liquidity benefits for American families, while at the same time scaling back the role of government in managing and controlling the affairs of citizens.  It is a comprehensive plan with long-term economic and social benefits for citizens and government.

The inspiration for this plan is based upon Biblical principles set forth in the Book of Leviticus, principles tendering direct economic liberties to the people.

The Leviticus 25 Plan – An Economic Acceleration Plan for America

$90,000 per U.S. citizen – Leviticus 25 Plan 2023 (4174 downloads)

Republicans Should Stand for More Than Opposing Democrats

They need to develop specific policies and programs in time for the 2024 presidential election.

By Joseph Epstein

The Wall Street Journal, Aug. 30, 2022 – Excerpts:

“… Democrats seem always on the political offensive; with their general principles, the Republicans on the defensive, seeing it as their chief task to block costly Democratic bills and other attempts at radical change….

…What the Republicans had going for them in the midterms was opposition to inflation, the obvious madness (and sadness) of our open southern border, the crime openly rampant in big-city streets, the wobbly foreign policy of an American president who in this realm and others seems well over his head.

However worthy of attack these things are, they leave the Republicans in the respectable but limited position of loyal opposition. What, apart from this opposition, does the party stand for that American voters can get behind in the passionate way that wins elections?

The lack of positive policies or programs leaves Republicans open to the old argument that the party stands for little more than the defense of rich and the maintenance of the status quo. In this scheme—or, as we say nowadays, narrative—the Democrats stand for progress, they are the party of the people, holding the torch of social justice high, while the Republicans stand for regress, the continual enrichment of the 1%, a deep insensitivity to injustice and suffering.

If Republicans were to promote policies and programs formed from their principles, it would have the not-trivial benefit of putting give-and-take back at the heart of the two-party system. A politics that encouraged the parties to argue over rivaling ideas would invite the intelligent participation of a great number of Americans.

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What our Washington Republicans have not done is “promote policies and programs” that are forged from their defining principles and core beliefs, programs what will (1) Get the federal budget back under control, (2) Reduce government control over the daily affairs of citizens, (3) Formalize a long-term robust economic growth plan, and (4) Restore financial security for American families.

Main Street Republicans, the very hard-working, tax-paying, God-fearing U.S. citizens, who comprise the back-bone of America, have just such a formal plan.

The Leviticus 25 Plan will (1) Generate $583 billion budget surpluses, (2) Reduce government control over the daily affairs of citizens, (3) Reign in out-of-control entitlement spending, (4) Provide massive debt elimination and newfound financial security for millions of American families, (5) Revitalize a citizen-centered health care system, (6) Promote economic liberty and free market dynamics for the U.S. economy, (7) Provide long-term strength and stability for the U.S. Dollar and steer America clear of a freedom-robbing Fed-based Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).

The Leviticus 25 Plan – An Economic Acceleration Plan for America

$90,000 per U.S. citizen – Leviticus 25 Plan 2023 (4165 downloads)

The Biden administration has announced that it will “forgive up to $20,000 in federal student loan debt for tens of millions of Americans, a move that will provide unprecedented relief for borrowers:..”  – The Wall Street Journal, Aug 24, 2022.

Continuing –  “The Penn Wharton Budget Model estimates that canceling $10,000 for borrowers earning up to $125,000 will cost about $300 billion. The Pell grant addition could increase this by as much as $270 billion. The four-month freeze on payments will cost $20 billion on top of the roughly $115 billion it already has.”

That’s a cool $590 billion.

“Worse than the cost is the moral hazard and awful precedent this sets. Those who will pay for this write-off are the tens of millions of Americans who didn’t go to college, or repaid their debt, or skimped and saved to pay for college, or chose lower-cost schools to avoid a debt trap. This is a college graduate bailout paid for by plumbers and FedEx drivers.”

Meanwhile, “The combined actions could render up to 20 million borrowers free of student debt, according to the White House.

“It’s hard to wrap your head around how life changing this is going to be for so many people. It is almost cosmic in scale,” said the Debt Collective, an activist group that has pushed for broad cancellation.”

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It is hard to overstate how important and beneficial this type of debt relief is for millions of recent college graduates, who are now dealing skyrocketing rents and higher food and fuel costs – and how it will be viewed, politically, by the nearly 20 million beneficiaries.

And what was the Republican response?  Did the Washington Republicans have a better plan for America?

Answer:  No.

“GOP lawmakers quickly criticized the idea, with the Republican National Committee calling the plan ‘Biden’s bailout for the wealthy.’”  –The Wall Street Journal, Aug 25, 2022.

Republicans in Washington, by the way, do not have any type of broadly-defined ‘Vision for Restoring the American Dream,’ and never have a superior alternative to offer the American people when Biden and the Washington Democrats push to expand big-government’s budget-blowing powers benefiting politically-malleable special interest groups.

What the Washington Republican response should have been:

“We Republicans offer to the American people a comprehensive economic plan that is far superior to the Biden Administration’s $10,000 college loan forgiveness plan.

Our plan will provided direct access to liquidity and a path to massive debt relief for all U.S. citizens – which includes millions of past college graduates who have worked hard and repaid their loans, and the millions of tax-paying Americans who did not go to college (but are now subsidizing Biden’s college loan forgiveness plan).

Our plan will not strap taxpayers with a $590 billion addition to the national debt.  Our plan will instead generate $583 billion budget surpluses each of the first five years of activation (2023-2027).

Our plan will not continue to make citizens ever more dependent on federal government programs. It will instead will allow citizens to become less dependent and less controlled by government.  It will rebuild the foundations of freedom in America.

Our plan will re-vitalize free market dynamics in America, lower inflation, usher in a grand new long-term economic growth cycle, and ‘raise all boats’ with enhanced financial security for all Americans.

Our plan:

The Leviticus 25 Plan provides a $90,000 credit extension, direct from the Federal Reserve, to every participating U.S. citizen:  $60,000 into a Family Account (FA) and $30,000 into a Medical Savings Account (MSA).

Example:  Qualifying family of four would receive $240,000 in their FA, and $120,000 in their MSA.

Primary goal:  Massive debt elimination at family level:  mortgage debt, consumer debt, student loan debt

Eligibility:  U.S. Citizen.  Job history, credit history requirement (similar to traditional credit checks for bank loans).  Clean recent drug history.  Clean crime history.

Requirements:  Forego all federal and state tax refunds for 5-year period.

Forego all means-tested welfare benefits – for minimum 5-year period.

Forego all income security program benefits – for minimum 5-year period.

Forego new federally-subsidized ‘Family Medical Leave’ benefits – for minimum 5 year period.

Forego Child Tax Credit benefits – for minimum 5-year period.

Forego enhanced unemployment benefits – for minimum 5-year period.

Forego enhanced rental forbearance/assistance – for minimum 5-year period.

Forego SSI and SSDI for minimum 5-year period.

New $6,000 deductible on primary care access to: Medicare, Medicaid, VA, TRICARE, FEHB – for minimum 5-year period.

The Plan assumes that the elite-wealthy will not participate, because their refunds are too valuable to give up over the requisite 5-year period.

The Plan also assumes that many who heavily depend on social welfare benefits will also choose not to participate, because the overriding value of those benefits, vs foregoing them, over the 5-year period.

The Leviticus 25 Plan grants the same direct access to liquidity, through a Fed-based Citizens Credit Facility, similar to the credit facilities that were created by the Fed to transfuse trillions of dollars in direct transfers and credit extensions to Wall Street’s major banks, credit agencies and insurers during the great financial crisis. 

The following facilities were created and activated by the Fed for this massive Wall Street bail out operation: Term Auction Facility (TAF), Primary Dealer Credit Facility (PDCF), Term Securities Lending Facility (TSLF), currency swap agreements with several foreign central banks,  Commercial Paper Funding Facility (CPFF), Asset-Backed Commercial Paper Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility (AMLF), Money Market Investor Funding Facility (MMIFF), and the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF), and access to the Fed’s Discount Window.

Additional perspective:  SIGTARP, the oversight agency of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), in its July 2009 report, vetted by Treasury, noted that the U.S. Government’s “Total Potential Support Related to Crisis” (page 138) amounted to $23.7 trillion. While this figure represents a backstop commitment, not a measure of total potential loss, it is nonetheless an astounding degree of support, in the form of liquidity infusions, credit extensions and guarantees, various other forms of assistance for financial institutions and other business entities affected by the financial crisis.

The Leviticus 25 Plan is a dynamic economic initiative providing direct liquidity benefits for American families, while at the same time scaling back the role of government in managing and controlling the affairs of citizens.  It is a comprehensive plan with long-term economic and social benefits for citizens and government.

The inspiration for this plan is based upon Biblical principles set forth in the Book of Leviticus, principles tendering direct economic liberties to the people.

The Leviticus 25 Plan – An Economic Acceleration Plan for America

$90,000 per U.S. citizen – Leviticus 25 Plan 2023 (4161 downloads)

A fresh Wall Street Journal review of IRS audits…

This is Your IRS at Work

Official audits show a record of incompetence. Democrats are still giving the tax agency an $80 billion raise.

By The Editorial Board | Aug. 19, 2022

The new Inflation Reduction Act has many damaging provisions, but for sheer government gall the $80 billion reward to the Internal Revenue Service stands out. The money will go to hire 87,000 new employees, doubling its current payroll. This is also doubling down on incompetence, as anyone can see in the official reports of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (Tigta).

We’ve read those reports for the last several years so you don’t have to, and the experience is a government version of finding yourself in a blighted neighborhood for the first time. You can’t believe it’s that bad. The trouble goes beyond the oft-cited failures like answering only 10% of taxpayer calls, or a backlog of 17 million unprocessed tax returns. The audits reveal an agency that can’t do its basic job well but will terrorize taxpayers whether deserving or not.

***

Consider the agency’s chronic mishandling of tax credits. By the IRS’s own admission, some $19 billion—or 28%—of earned-income tax credit payments in fiscal 2021 were “improper.” The amount hasn’t improved despite years of IRS promises to do better.

• A January Tigta audit found that an estimated 67,000 claims—totaling $15.6 billion—for the low-income housing tax credit from 2015 to 2019 “lacked or did not match supporting documentation due to potential reporting errors or noncompliance.”

• A May audit found that 26% ($1.9 billion) of its American opportunity tax credits for education expenses were improper in fiscal 2021, and 27% ($541 million) of its net premium tax credits (ObamaCare) were improper in fiscal 2019 (the most recent year it estimated). The same May audit said the IRS acknowledged that 13% ($5.2 billion) of its enhanced child tax credit payments were improper.

• How did it handle $1,200 stimulus checks, the sick and paid family leave credit, or the employee retention tax credit? Unknown, since the agency didn’t estimate failure rates—for which Tigta rapped its knuckles.

• A September 2021 audit found the IRS in 2020 issued 89,338 notices to taxpayers insisting that “balances were owed even though the taxes were not actually due.” Why? Because the feds had extended the filing deadline amid Covid but the IRS apparently didn’t notice.

• A February audit found the IRS department responsible for ensuring retirement-plan tax compliance suffered a 23% decline in the quality of its examinations from fiscal 2018 to fiscal 2020. In the past seven months, Tigta has issued searing reports on IRS mismanagement of everything from its partial-payment program for delinquent taxpayers, to its auditing of partnerships, to its struggle to handle internal employee misconduct.

• This ineptitude extends to programs Democrats insist will now raise revenue—those targeting higher earners. In 2010 Congress passed the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, which was supposed to identify wealthy Americans using undisclosed foreign accounts. Congress’s Joint Committee on Taxation said this would raise some $9 billion in revenue by fiscal 2020. Yet an April Tigta audit noted that while the IRS has spent $574 million to implement the law, the agency has drummed up only $14 million in compliance revenue.

• A July 2021 audit related the failure of the IRS small-business/self-employed division’s strategy, which began in 2010 to examine more returns from “high-income individual taxpayers.” The IRS defines high earners as those with income greater than $200,000. Yet from fiscal 2015 to the end of fiscal 2017 (when the strategy was shut down), 73% of returns targeted by the strategy fell below $200,000.

Democrats say a turbocharged IRS won’t pursue taxpayers earning less than $400,000, but don’t believe it. Middle-income Americans are easier marks, as they are more likely to write a check than engage in years of costly litigation.

***

The Tigta site shows the IRS is good at one thing: punishing those who resist its demands. A March audit chastised the IRS for using lien foreclosure suits to confiscate “principal residences” from delinquent taxpayers, a process that does “not provide [taxpayers] the same legal protections as seizures.”

A March 2017 report related the agency’s crackdown on businesses flagged as potentially evading a law that requires financial institutions to report currency transactions exceeding $10,000. The IRS took to seizing property from its targets before even conducting interviews. Tigta reports that even when interviews were conducted, the IRS failed to advise the accused of their rights or the purpose of the interview, and failed to consider “realistic defenses or explanations.” Tigta found that “most” of those targeted (owners of gas stations, jewelry stores, scrap-metal dealers, restaurants) had not committed crimes, though many were never able to regain their property.

This is the IRS that Democrats are now arming with more money and manpower to unleash on Americans. The $80 billion is a demonstration of their priorities, and further proof of the rule that failure in government is invariably rewarded with a bigger budget.

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Republicans in Washington, who, by the way, do not have any type of broadly-defined ‘Vision for Restoring the American Dream,’ and never seem to have a superior alternative to offer the American people when Washington Democrats push to expand big-government’s power to expropriate wealth and limit freedoms for working-class Americans – should sit up and take notice….

The Leviticus 25 Plan is a powerful, and manifestly superior, plan to expanding IRS powers – and defining a bright new vision for America.

All U.S. citizens participating in The Leviticus 25 Plan will forego their tax refunds for the initial five year activation period (2023-2027).

Benefits – Federal Income Tax Recapture
The scoring model assumes that 80% of U.S. citizens will participate in The Plan.
Participants must give up their tax refunds through the Plan’s recapture provisions for the 5-year target period (2023-2027).

According to 2021 IRS Filing season statistics, through Dec 3, 2021: 129,841,000 total refunds were paid out for a total of $365.499 billion. The estimated refund total
for the full year, through December 31st: $365.5 billion.

The Leviticus 25 Plan would reduce the number of refunds each year (2023-2027) by 80%, effectively dropping the gross number of refunds in need of processing, reviewing, and potentially auditing, from approximately 130,000,000 down to about 26,000,000.

The IRS would NOT need to hire the additional thousands of employees, and they would NOT be put in the bind of having to pay $3.3 billion in interest payments on unprocessed refunds.

And the IRS would NOT need “$45.6 billion for “enforcement,” including “litigation,” “criminal investigations,” “investigative technology,” “digital asset monitoring” and a new fleet of tax-collector cars.“

The Leviticus 25 Plan, by virtue of its Federal Income Tax Recapture provisions, will increase U.S. Treasury Department net tax collection revenue by $1.592 trillion over a 5-year period – all without spending one additional dollar on IRS collection efforts.

The Leviticus 25 Plan – Federal Income Tax Recapture

The scoring model assumes that 80% of U.S. citizens will participate in The Leviticus 25 Plan.

Participants must give up their tax refunds through the Plan’s recapture provisions for the 5-year target period (2023-2027).

According to 2021 IRS Filing season statistics, through Dec 3, 2021: 129,841,000 total refunds were paid out for a total of $365.499 billion.  The estimated refund total for the full year, through December 31^st:  $365.5 billion.

Refund totals have increased by ~$44 billion over the past five years, from $323.9 billion (2017) to a current (estimated) $365.5 billion (2021), representing an average increase of $8.32 billion / year. 

A conservative estimated average of $8 billion per year (2023-2027) will be used for this recapture calculation.

2021: $365.5 billion

2022: $374 billion

2023: $382 billion

2024: $390 billion

2025: $398 billion

2026: $406 billion

2027: $414 billion

Total: $1.990 trillion

Total recapture X 80%:  $1.990 trillion X .8 = $1.592 trillion

Total recapture per annum (2023-2027): $1.592 trillion / 5 = $318.4 billion

Source: https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/filing-season-statistics-for-week-ending-december-3-2021 

The Leviticus 25 Plan is a dynamic economic initiative providing direct liquidity benefits for American families, while at the same time scaling back the role of government in managing and controlling the affairs of citizens.  It is a comprehensive plan with long-term economic and social benefits for citizens and government.

The inspiration for this plan is based upon Biblical principles set forth in the Book of Leviticus, principles tendering direct economic liberties to the people.

The Leviticus 25 Plan – An Economic Acceleration Plan for America

$90,000 per U.S. cirizen – Leviticus 25 Plan 2023 (4158 downloads)

A perfect trade – ‘paper’ for ‘farmland.’

And farmland is the gift that keeps on giving, with the types of government subsidies which particularly benefit billionaires.

………………………………………………….

MarketWatch – Mar 13, 2021:

Bill Gates and Warren Buffett should thank American taxpayers for their profitable farmland investments

By Vincent H. Smith and Eric J. Belasco

Bill Gates is now the largest owner of farmland in the U.S. having made substantial investments in at least 19 states throughout the country. He has apparently followed the advice of another wealthy investor, Warren Buffett, who in a February 24, 2014 letter to investors described farmland as an investment that has “no downside and potentially substantial upside.”

There is a simple explanation for this affection for agricultural assets. Since the early 1980s, Congress has consistently succumbed to pressures from farm interest groups to remove as much risk as possible from agricultural enterprises by using taxpayer funds to underwrite crop prices and cash revenues.

Over the years, three trends in farm subsidy programs have emerged.

The first and most visible is the expansion of the federally supported crop insurance program, which has grown from less than $200 million in 1981 to over $8 billion in 2021…

The second trend is the continuation of longstanding programs to protect farmers against relatively low revenues because of price declines and lower-than-average crop yields….

The third, more recent trend is a return over the past four years to a 1970s practice: annual ad hoc “one off” programs justified by political expediency with support from the White House and Congress. These expenditures were $5.1 billion in 2018, $14.7 billion in 2019, and over $32 billion in 2020, of which $29 billion came from COVID relief funds authorized in the CARES Act. An additional $13 billion for farm subsidies was later included in the December 2020 stimulus bill.

If you are wondering why so many different subsidy programs are used to compensate farmers multiple times for the same price drops and other revenue losses, you are not alone.

Our research indicates that many owners of large farms collect taxpayer dollars from all three sources. For many of the farms ranked in the top 10% in terms of sales, recent annual payments exceeded a quarter of a million dollars.

Farms with average or modest sales received much less. Their subsidies ranged from close to zero for small farms to a few thousand dollars for averaged-sized operations.

Thus for almost all farm owners, and especially the largest 10% whose net equity averages over $6 million, as Buffet observed, there is little or no risk and lots of potential gain in owning and investing in agricultural land. 

While many agricultural support programs are meant to “save the family farm,” the largest beneficiaries of agricultural subsidies are the richest landowners with the largest farms who, like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, are scarcely in any need of taxpayer handouts.

Vincent H. Smith is director of agricultural studies at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington, D.C. think tank, and professor of economics at Montana State University. Eric J. Belasco is a visiting scholar at AEI.

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Mr. Buffett also used a sizeable portion of his funds to buy into the mobile home sector… and this has not been working out so well for many of the mobile home owners in America.

Warren Buffett, Slumlord – Predatory Loans, Kickbacks & Preying On The Poor  

ZeroHedge, Apr 6, 2015 – Excerpts:                                                                  

Buffett’s mobile-home empire promises low-income Americans the dream of homeownership. But Clayton [controlled by America’s second richest man, billionaire Warren Buffet], relied on predatory sales practices, exorbitant fees, and interest rates that can exceed 15 percent, trapping many buyers in loans they can’t afford and in homes that are almost impossible to sell or refinance, an investigation by The Seattle Times and Center for Public Integrity has found.

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The Leviticus 25 Plan will balance the books on these matters – by granting U.S. citizens the same direct access to liquidity that was so generously provided by the Federal Reserve and U.S. Department of Treasury to Wall Street’s wealthy elites during financial crisis years, 2008-2010.

The Leviticus 25 Plan is a dynamic economic initiative providing direct liquidity benefits for American families, while at the same time scaling back the role of government in managing and controlling the affairs of citizens.  It is a comprehensive plan with long-term economic and social benefits for citizens and government.

The inspiration for this plan is based upon Biblical principles set forth in the Book of Leviticus, principles tendering direct economic liberties to the people.

The Leviticus 25 Plan – An Economic Acceleration Plan for America

$90,000 per U.S. citizen – Leviticus 25 Plan 2023 (4156 downloads)

Thank you, Hank Paulson, Tim Geithner, and Ben Bernanke, from the bottom of Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’ hearts.

The U.S. government responded to critical liquidity shortages within Wall Street’s financial sector and a crumbling U.S. economy during the 2008-09 financial crisis, by funneling trillions of dollars in direct cash transfers, emergency loans, credit guarantees, and balance-sheet-clearing toxic mortgage debt purchases – to many of America’s premier financial institutions.

Billionaire Warren Buffett lobbied hard for the massive bailouts…. and with good reason. At least eight of these companies receiving billions of dollars of taxpayer bailouts were owned by Mr. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.

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Buffett’s Betrayal: Rolfe Winkler | Reuters /

Aug 4, 2009 – Excerpts:
A good chunk of his [Warren Buffett’s] fortune is dependent on taxpayer largess. Were it not for government bailouts, for which Buffett lobbied hard, many of his company’s stock holdings would have been wiped out.

Berkshire Hathaway, in which Buffett owns 27 percent, according to a recent proxy filing, has more than $26 billion invested in eight financial companies that have received bailout money. The TARP at one point had nearly $100 billion invested in these companies and, according to new data released by Thomson Reuters, FDIC backs more than $130 billion of their debt.

To put that in perspective, 75 percent of the debt these companies have issued since late November has come with a federal guarantee.

[Note – the figures below are the dollar value in millions. Example – Berkshire Hathaway holdings in Goldman Sachs: $8,800,000,000]

Without FDIC’s debt guarantee program, even impregnable Goldman would have collapsed.

And this excludes the emergency, opaque lending facilities from the Federal Reserve that also helped rescue the big banks. Without all these bailouts, the financial system would have been forced to recapitalize itself.

Banks that couldn’t finance their balance sheets would have sold toxic assets at market prices, and the losses would have wiped out their shareholder’s equity. With $7 billion at stake, Buffett is one of the biggest of these shareholders.

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Mr. Bill Gates, who joined the Berkshire Board of Directors in 2004, also benefited handsomely during the period immediately following these bailouts – by virtue of his own Berkshire holdings (91.9 million shares):

Bill Gates – Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. – Class B

Source:  https://stockcircle.com/portfolio/bill-gates/brk.b/transactions

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Summary:  The Fed ‘created’ trillions of dollars in ‘new money’ in their “Secret Liquidity Lifelines” to bail out Wall Street’s financial sector – ‘lathering up’ not only the ultra-wealthy, upper-level management teams of these American and European banking behemoths, but also their major billionaire shareholders like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates.

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It is now high time to level the playing field – by granting U.S. citizens the same direct access to liquidity that was so generously provided to the likes of Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley JP Morgan, State Street, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, UBS AG, BNP Paribas, Royal Bank of Scotland… and others.

The Leviticus 25 Plan – An Economic Acceleration Plan for America

$90,000 per U.S. citizen – Leviticus 25 Plan 2023 (4155 downloads)

Democrats in Washington are all set to pump $79 billion of new money into the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), in large part to hire as many as 87,000 additional employees – and thereby ‘grow’ this agency into the largest in all of government. As the plan unfolds over the coming 10-years, the IRS will “employ more bureaucrats than the Pentagon, State Department, FBI, and Border Patrol combined” (Washington Free Beacon, Aug 6, 2022).

The projected benefit from this massive new government expansion plan: $204 billion over 10 years.

Washington Republicans, aside from voting ‘No’ on this government-expanding extravaganza, shamefully have no plan of their own to offer a ‘better, more powerful, more efficient, and more prosperous way forward for America.’

Washington Republicans, furthermore, have made no statement about ‘defunding’ this massive IRS expansion.

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WSJ:  The IRS May Soon Get Bigger Claws

By Laura Saunders, Aug. 6-7, 2022 – Excerpts:

“If Congress passes the Inflation Reduction Act, Americans should expect more IRS audits—especially on filers making more than $400,000 a year…. includes provisions adding $79 billion to Internal Revenue Service funding over the next decade. More than half of it would boost enforcement, while $30 billion would be to improve operations and technology, and $3 billion would go for taxpayer service.”

“According to the Congressional Budget Office, the expanded IRS funding is expected to raise $204 billion over 10 years. By this analysis, says Mr. Watson, the IRS will raise $2.50 for each additional dollar invested, because the $79 billion phases in and the agency needs time to ramp up. In the past, the IRS has estimated a return of $5 to $9 for each added dollar once hiring and training are complete.”

“Former Treasury secretaries, IRS commissioners, and tax-policy specialists across the political spectrum have endorsed the funding proposals. But the American Institute of CPAs has expressed reservations, given the massive backlog of more than 17 million unprocessed paper returns.… “Given the historic low level of taxpayer services, we are concerned about a possible imbalance between funding for taxpayer services and enforcement,” the group said in a letter to Congress.

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Washington Republicans may be ‘dead in the water,’ but Main Street America Republicans do have a plan.

The Leviticus 25 Plan, by virtue of its Federal Income Tax Recapture provisions, will increase U.S. Treasury Department net tax collection revenue by $1.592 trillion over a 5-year period – all without spending one additional dollar on IRS collection efforts.

The Leviticus 25 Plan – Federal Income Tax Recapture

The scoring model assumes that 80% of U.S. citizens will participate in The Leviticus 25 Plan.

Participants must give up their tax refunds through the Plan’s recapture provisions for the 5-year target period (2023-2027).

According to 2021 IRS Filing season statistics, through Dec 3, 2021: 129,841,000 total refunds were paid out for a total of $365.499 billion.  The estimated refund total for the full year, through December 31^st:  $365.5 billion.

Refund totals have increased by ~$44 billion over the past five years, from $323.9 billion (2017) to a current (estimated) $365.5 billion (2021), representing an average increase of $8.32 billion / year. 

A conservative estimated average of $8 billion per year (2023-2027) will be used for this recapture calculation.

2021: $365.5 billion

2022: $374 billion

2023: $382 billion

2024: $390 billion

2025: $398 billion

2026: $406 billion

2027: $414 billion

Total: $1.990 trillion

Total recapture X 80%:  $1.990 trillion X .8 = $1.592 trillion

Total recapture per annum (2023-2027): $1.592 trillion / 5 = $318.4 billion

Source: https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/filing-season-statistics-for-week-ending-december-3-2021 

The Leviticus 25 Plan is a dynamic economic initiative providing direct liquidity benefits for American families, while at the same time scaling back the role of government in managing and controlling the affairs of citizens.  It is a comprehensive plan with long-term economic and social benefits for citizens and government.

The inspiration for this plan is based upon Biblical principles set forth in the Book of Leviticus, principles tendering direct economic liberties to the people.

The Leviticus 25 Plan – An Economic Acceleration Plan for America

$90,000 per U.S. citizen – Leviticus 25 Plan 2023 (4149 downloads)

“Democracy extends the sphere of individual freedom, socialism restricts it. Democracy attaches all possible value to each man; socialism makes each man a mere agent, a mere number. Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word: equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude.”  – Alexis de Tocqueville