Jabba the Hutt from the Star Wars movies, sitting on his throne gorging himself all day and dispatching his henchmen whenever his existence is threatened. This is exactly what the federal government has become. It is like a giant octopus with razor-sharp tentacles, which lashes out whenever it feels threatened. We have seen the IRS, the NSA, the Attorney General’s office, and countless other federal departments and bureaucracies weaponized and turned against the American people.
“Anyone with the temerity to suggest that the government be scaled back becomes an enemy of the state, targeted not only by its aforementioned tentacles but by a complicit, big-government media. It is worse than Louis XIV’s claim L’état, c’est moi. It is no longer one person, but the entire government declaring that the state takes precedence over the individual. It has devolved into L’état, c’est l’état soi-même.
“Imagine a family that is completely out of money but that keeps signing up for more credit cards. It doesn’t scale back its lifestyle but actually takes it to the next level, buying more expensive cars, summer homes, and luxury vacations abroad. It’s a recipe for complete and unmitigated disaster. Yet damning the torpedoes, the government proceeds full speed ahead.
“And as it does, as the government continues to tax and grow and borrow and spend, the day of reckoning draws ever closer. The bill is already overdue and at some point, we will no longer be able to borrow the money we have been using to put off the inevitable. Simply put, our national debt is growing faster than we can pay for it. The laws of physics and economics are inescapable. No nation can keep spending money it doesn’t have forever. But spend we do.
“The prior administration tripled the deficit and increased the national debt by over seventy-five percent. Within the next ten years, every penny from taxes will go just to covering the interest on our debt. We’ll have to borrow money for everything else. Military spending, Homeland Security, you name it. And knowing this, who would be stupid enough to loan us any money?” Fleming asked as he advanced to his next slide. “This is where President Porter’s thoughts come in.
“Forty percent of our national debt is held by the federal government and the Federal Reserve. Essentially we print money and move it from our left pocket to our right. The largest foreign holder of American debt, though, is China.”
“Despite everything you’ve said,” the Secretary of Defense interrupted, “that still doesn’t mean that they can come in here and declare themselves owners of the United States.”
“Again, a week ago, I would have agreed with you, but hear me out,” Fleming replied as he went to the next slide. “In the 1990s, Mexico had a currency crisis, which the United States stepped in to help resolve. We propped up the peso with an influx of $20 billion. It was the largest non-military international loan the U.S. had made since the Marshall Plan.
“There was a rumor that circulated at the time that the loan almost didn’t happen. Some were very concerned that the Mexicans wouldn’t be able to pay it back. Others were less concerned with whether the loan would be paid back than with what would happen if the Mexican economy completely collapsed. Would our southern border be overrun with economic refugees? Congress was dead set against the loan.
“A small D.C. think tank aligned with the administration at that time made a radical suggestion. Have Mexico collateralize the loan by putting up the Baja Peninsula. If Mexico defaulted, Baja would belong to the U.S. and become the fifty-first state. That idea was allegedly discussed and dismissed as ‘too crazy.’ The think tank then recommended Mexico secure the loans with oil and natural gas drilling leases. That idea was also dismissed. The administration was worried they could end up looking like they had taken advantage of ‘poor little Mexico.’
“In the end, the then Secretary of the Treasury skirted Congress by tapping a Treasury Department emergency reserve fund and got the money to Mexico that way. The idea, though, of nations backing up their loans with something tangible had been planted.”
Fleming clicked his remote and a new slide appeared. “I know the President doesn’t like to blame the previous administration. We’ve all been told we have to play the hand we’ve been dealt as well as we can for the American people. But, it is important to note that the Congressional Budget Office warned the last administration that the