William Helms: “the incredibly enormous Federal debt is like the weather--everybody talks about the weather but nobody does anything…”

“the incredibly enormous Federal debt is like the weather--everybody talks about the weather but nobody does anything about it. And Congress talks a good game about bringing Federal deficits and the Federal debt under control, but there are too many Senators and Members of the House of Representatives who unfailingly find all sorts of excuses for voting to defeat proposals for a constitutional amendment to require a balanced Federal budget. As of Thursday, May 5 at the close of business, the Federal debt stood--down to the penny--at exactly $4,573,713,001,135.78. This debt, mind you, was run up by the Congress of the United States, because the big spenders in the U.S. Government cannot spend a dime that has not first been authorized and appropriated by Congress. The U.S. Constitution is quite specific about that. And pay no attention to the nonsense from politicians that the Federal debt was run up by Ronald Reagan or George Bush. The Congress is the villain. Most people cannot conceive of a billion of anything, let alone a trillion. It may provide a bit of perspective to bear in mind that a billion seconds ago, Mr. President, the Cuban missile crisis was going on. A billion minutes ago, not many years had elapsed since Christ was crucified.”