The headline read, "National debt tops $31 trillion as tax collections set record."

Ponder that.

Might that fact possibly be indicative of a mind-blowingly humongous serious spending problem?

It seems no one in Washington, Democrat or Republican, truly cares about — or understands — the danger that debt, at this staggering level, poses.  All but a handful of those in Congress spend (other people's) money with a giddy ferocity that would make a drunken sailor on shore leave blush.

Former rep. Dick Armey (R-Texas) once noted, "Three groups spend other people's money: children, thieves, and politicians.  All three need supervision."  Truer words were never spoken.

Economist Milton Friedman famously explained that there are four ways to spend money.  1) You can spend your own money on yourself.  2) You can spend your own money on someone else.  3) You can spend someone else's money on yourself.  4) You can spend someone else's money on someone else.  The last one is precisely what our politicians do.  And that is also obviously the way for which people will be the least concerned and careful.

This is why there are so many stupefyingly ridiculous examples of egregious federal spending.

Like the study that aimed to untangle the psychology of gambling addiction — by building a casino for pigeons.  Yes, the National Institutes of Health sent nearly half a million dollars to Reed College in Portland, Oregon, where researchers planned to create a "self-contained miniature economy" for the school's flock of pigeons.  Dr. Timothy Hackenberg explained, via the project's abstract, that the birds receive currency-like tokens that they can "earn, accumulate, spend, or gamble" on slot machines.  Yet even Dr. Hackenberg admits there are few "practical applications" for this work.

Then there is the National Science Foundation, which, purportedly concerned about worsening climate change–induced hurricanes, paid researchers to capture dozens of anole lizards in the Turks and Caicos Islands, and subsequently blast the critters with leaf-blowers to see how they'd fare.

Then, of course, Dr. Fauci's NIAID funded an experiment to feminize monkeys; the U.S. National Institutes of Health paid a Russian lab to sever the brain stems of 18 healthy cats; and the National Science Foundation funded a study which examined, weighed, and measured the results of the bowel movements of pandas, elephants, and warthogs; etc.

Democrats separate themselves from free-spending Republicans by ceaselessly attempting to bribe voters by offering them money or free stuff — either overtly or covertly.  When they get virtually half the population on the government dole/gravy train, it's essentially game over.  This is a nearly intractable problem for Republicans and Libertarians who may want to tamp down the orgiastic spending, as all they can offer is the promise of effective policies, personal freedom — and to let those who actually pay most of the taxes keep more of their own money.  Unfortunately, too many in the electorate do not understand economics or history, dual ignorance that virtually guarantees societal disaster in the long run.  And, tragically, many now seem to value (a chimerical) safety over personal freedom.  Moreover, since those who make more shoulder most of the tax burden, Democrats immediately and incessantly accuse Republicans of favoring the rich when they propose tax cuts, a charge that is preposterous in 2022.

By some accounts, up to 80% of current federal spending is unconstitutional.  But is it even possible to rein in federal spending?  In 1995, Senate Republicans fell one vote short of passing a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.

Incredibly, today that task seems harder than ever.

If pigeons have casinos, maybe one day pigs will be able to fly.

Say, I wonder if we could fund a study to determine the feasibility of swine flight...

Image via Max Pixel.