Just do shit that needs to be done then tax me whatever you had to spend?
We don't couple taxes with spending, so even that much is a farce. Whenever the US overspends (basically always) they simply cover the balance with new debt instruments. But then Congress needs to give the Treasury permission to issue more debt to go with the new spending. So they can write Treasury $1T in distributions but only give it the ability to cover $900B in spending, at which point Treasury has to decide what $100B goes unpaid.
And that brings us to the inevitably "Will Treasury pay your nan's Social Security check this month?!" headlines (that never resolve, because SS isn't part of the general fund, but what the fuck ever!)
We don't couple taxes with spending, so even that much is a farce. Whenever the US overspends (basically always) they simply cover the balance with new debt instruments. But then Congress needs to give the Treasury permission to issue more debt to go with the new spending. So they can write Treasury $1T in distributions but only give it the ability to cover $900B in spending, at which point Treasury has to decide what $100B goes unpaid.
And that brings us to the inevitably "Will Treasury pay your nan's Social Security check this month?!" headlines (that never resolve, because SS isn't part of the general fund, but what the fuck ever!)