The Schumer Shutdown

But let us step back from theology and teleology for a moment to address the mundane and worldly and the government shutdown in the United States in particular. It has long been the case that brinksmanship and standoffish behavior would take place in Congress before every budget discussion and debate and then a budget would be passed before a shutdown would go into effect. This time around, however, not only did Congress allow for the shutdown to take effect, but discussions and debates about how to get out of the shutdown have essentially been frozen and paralyzed because of polarization and social fragmentation.

Whether in jest or not, the Republicans have dubbed this shutdown “The Schumer Shutdown.” Democrats and the majority of the country, however, blame it on the Republicans. But one could perhaps argue that it is neither a Republican nor a Democrat nor Schumer shutdown, but rather, it is a shutdown that surreptitiously surrounds the national debt and the arrangement of military personnel and military resources.

For the longest time now, the federal government has borrowed large sums of money to pay for virtually everything. Now, the federal government has run into a dilemma or a wall per se: pay back the lenders or pay for what you have been borrowing for all this time. As a result, the following strategic options arise: for one, the federal government can ask the lenders for mercy, meaning a cancellation or forgiveness of the debt. But given that the lenders never saw themselves as a charity, that might not even be a possibility anyone can entertain.

Another strategic option which arises is that the government either cut down on borrowing or stop borrowing altogether, cut spending, and pay the debt down. But a third and very controversial option arises for the federal government, which is to declare bankruptcy! The federal government can simply tell the lenders that they have no money whatsoever for the paying down of the debt. The government can declare that it simply does not have the money to give back to the lenders. It then follows that the real negotiation in this shutdown is not necessarily between Republicans and Democrats in Congress, but rather, between the lenders and the borrower, with the borrower being the federal government.

After all, almost 80 percent of the government debt is owned by private lenders and the Federal Reserve. Which of course, is a huge amount of debt to hold for a certain segment of entities and individuals. The remaining 20 percent is owned by ordinary citizens and foreign governments. But what is beginning to catch up to everyone is the fact that these lenders are not a charity whereby they continue to lend to the federal government without a trace of any return on their loan or investment. Thus, the simple fact of the matter is that if these lenders do not consider themselves a charity, then everyone is in deep trouble. If these lenders are somehow a charity, then these lenders can continue to donate to the federal government and the federal government can then continue to spend on whatever it is they want to spend on from these perceived donations.

Simply put, the moment these lenders decide that now is the time to get their return on their loan or investment, all hell will break loose. At that moment, the government goes into a bind. Everything the government has will either go to the lenders or to the arms developers and bureaucrats and health care and soldiers and so on and so forth, but not to both, considering that the ‘Debt to GDP Ratio’ is at about 125 percent. Recent history shows us that when the ‘Debt to GDP Ratio’ is this high, the collapse and failure of the central government or state is inevitable. It is a sure bet.

Dozens upon dozens of trillions of dollars are now at stake, the exact amount of which none of us are sure about. And it is all up in the air and all is uncertainty. Central to all of this is the government and who the government ultimately decides to pay as the squeeze gets tighter and tighter. If the Democrats had control of both Congress and the White House, it is almost certain that they would have raised taxes on the American people. But raising taxes does not seem to be a ploy or a trick which Republicans seek to employ or pull from underneath their sleeve. Nor should the American taxpayer get punished for government irresponsibility and evil. Moreover, it is exactly because of this that Republicans got elected, namely, to avert higher prices and higher taxes.

And to put things into even more perspective, in 2024, the federal government collected approximately 4.9 trillion dollars from the country’s population. The “official” tally for the debt is close to 38 trillion dollars and counting. If borrowing and spending continue the way it is at the moment, it is believed that the debt will reach close to 58 trillion dollars in about a decade or so. When you consider the significant shortfall that emerges when you match 4.9 trillion dollars in government tax revenue to supposedly 38 trillion dollars of debt – even though that number could be much higher – and then when you add all the borrowing and spending that is taking place which in turn will only drive the debt higher, it is a fiscal mess to say the least.

The national debt is in fact the number one national security threat facing the United States. There is no doubt about this whatsoever. And I have rung the alarm bells or the flashing lights and have raised red flags and warning signs on numerous occasions, and of course, I was not the only one to do so. Russia and China do not even come close in terms of the level of danger or threat that the national debt poses to the United States. Interest also compounds the debt. In other words, interest drives up the debt. I expected the day of judgment or the reckoning to come much later than now. But it came sooner than I expected. Nor is anyone in government, media, or academia telling us the real magnitude of the crisis or dilemma. Nevertheless, it was a matter of when the judgment and reckoning would arrive, not if it would arrive. Empire and hegemony obfuscated the basics and fundamentals of money and war in order to get us into this crisis and dilemma. Exclusionary extraction and hegemonic violence are perhaps the main contributors to “The Schumer Shutdown.”

And approximately 4.5 million people are employed by the federal government, half military, half civilian. But of the half that are civilian, 60 percent belong to the Pentagon and the ‘Department of Homeland Security.’ Which means that nearly 80 percent of all people who are employed by the federal government are employed by the Pentagon. The Pentagon is therefore the elephant in the room. Every single penny which the Pentagon gets from Congress will go to pensions and retirement in a matter of time. And the irony is that it was the lenders who rolled back the American empire. The lenders wanted to roll back the American empire but not roll it back at the same time. But as they say, you can’t have your cake and eat it too. You cannot hold two watermelons in one hand. And with that said, we now have the broader context and explanation for “The Schumer Shutdown” or whoever it is we think is to blame for the shutdown.