For far too long, we've spent more than we've taken in, perpetually kicking the budgeting can down the road for another administration to deal with.

We currently sit at $36.7 trillion in debt, and that debt grows by roughly $144 billion per month. I did some digging, and the Federal Reserve holds $6 trillion in debt and approximately $30 trillion is held by the public, including foreign countries like China, Japan, and the United Kingdom. 

That breaks down to about $106,000 for every American citizen.

In short, we are bereft of cash.

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So why is Senator Josh Hawley proposing spending more money?

🚨Report: Missouri Senator Josh Hawley has introduced a bill that will send $600 tariff rebate checks to Americans pic.twitter.com/JN9dt4C4Bt

— The Calvin Coolidge Project (@TheCalvinCooli1) July 29, 2025

This is good political optics, no doubt. A check with President Trump's signature on it, giving each American $600, would play well in the polls as the midterms loom.

But that's a short-term gain.

It will not only increase inflation -- remember what that is? -- it sends a very bad message to the American public and to Hawley's fellow polls. It says: the debt is no big deal, and we can keep spending like drunken sailors on shore leave.

And that's not fair to drunken sailors. They, eventually, run out of cash and don't have taxpayers they can rob for more spending money.

But I repeat: we are broke. As a nation, we cannot sustain this spending. And, no, contrary to what the Left claims, it's not a taxation issue. 

Elon Musk is on track to become the world's first trillionaire by 2027. That's an impressive feat, and the Left is just itching to get their hands on his wealth, claiming it could 'solve' homelessness or world hunger. Here's the problem: that $1 trillion will fund the federal government's reckless spending for about 100 days.

That's it.

Three months and change. 

There are some very hard choices that will need to be made, and there need to be deep spending cuts to government services if there's any hope of keeping Social Security, Medicare, or D.C. solvent for future Americans.

The first several months of the Trump administration were spent with DOGE taking a chainsaw to spending, and earlier this month, President Trump signed into law his Big Beautiful Bill (BBB). That bill included approximately $1.2 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade. That's about 1/40th of our debt, and it was a fight to get that passed through Congress.

Sending $600 checks to every American would cost $208.8 billion. If it's just American adults, that's still an eye-watering $160.3 billion. That's about one-fifth of what the BBB saved. Four more bills like that and we're right back where we've started.

Both parties created this problem, and both parties ignore it in their pursuit of spending. The only difference is: Democrats want to spend money we don't have on other people. Republicans want to spend money we don't have on Americans. Neither seems to understand we don't have the money to spend, period.

That money would be better spent paying down our massive debt.

Righting our fiscal ship requires economic discipline and the will to say no to unnecessary spending.

Saying no to Hawley's proposal is a good place to start.