Poor America. So burdened down with debt. But the boys on the right have their solution: Let’s slash all those entitlements such as Obamacare, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, food stamps; aid to the poor, the very young, the disabled, and the aged. Also, we can trash the EPA, the Education Department, and the IRS. Who really cares about climate change, education over ignorance, and why would we possibly need a tax collection agency? And of course, let’s get rid of the “death tax,” and all those pesky federal regulations that are strangling our economy. It’s the right thing to do.

The above “solutions” are all the pronouncements of that genius of all time, the one and only Donald Trump. He is a master at taking $950 million in tax deductions that never happened, and using that bit of fiction to avoid paying taxes for a mere 18 years.

That’s the story they peddle around. Now, here’s the real lowdown: America’s wealth is $92 trillion, or 700% of our public debt; and our wealth is heading for 1,500% of our debt in the next 20 years. Those numbers require only the ability to look up facts under the heading “Household Net Worth” in the Federal Reserve’s Flow of Funds report (http//www.federalreserve.gov/Releases/Z1/Current), how to calculate the compound annual growth rate of our wealth history, and knowledge of 3rd grade arithmetic.

That same $8 dollar calculator tells me that a $13 trillion public debt that is growing at 3% per year is easily within the budgetary mind of a 9 year old when compared to a wealth total of $92 trillion that is growing at 7.2% per year. Here are the undeniable calculations brought to you courtesy of Texas Instruments and $8:

                 Today                            in 2037
Debt: $13 trillion X 1.03^20      = $23.48 trillion
Wealth: $92 trillion X 1.072^20 = $370 trillion

The two sets of numbers above reveal these truths:

1. We have the ability to pay off the public debt any time we choose to do so.
2. We have the wherewithal to fix Obamacare, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, reduce the need for food stamps, contain climate change, keep the Education Dept, reduce the load on the IRS, keep an eye on cheats in the world of finance, also at any time we choose.
3. And we would still have a huge surplus to give back to all workers and taxpayers so that everyone’s lives can be enhanced while easing or eliminating many of those social issues connected with poverty.

I rest my case.