The national debt went up $71.6 billion in March. Intragovernmental Holdings (IH), the fraudulent Pay-It-Again scam half of the nation’s debt, actually went down $3.3 billion which reflects money stolen from Social Security’s surplus less what it costs taxpayers to support the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) as well as their Life & Health insurance and several other perks.

This means that we borrowed $74.9 billion from investors on the honest side of the debt or what is commonly called “The Bond Market.” This is the side where investors make a profit on their loans because we pay annual interest in cash instead of junk bonds. On the IH scam side, interest is paid by piling on more debt as issued to Social Security, half in December, half in June of each year.

The national debt now stands at $8.85 trillion, $115 billion from the debt limit. Since the not-for-profit federal government operates strictly on taxpayer money and there are only about 120 million who pay individual income taxes, this comes to roughly $73,747 per responsible person, $596 more than last month. Do you like that sort of monthly increase to your tab?

U.S. Treasuries are cashable at any time. If we had to pay off the debt, we couldn't expect children and the elderly retired to help out much and corporate taxes account for only 15 percent of the government’s total budget. Payroll taxes for what’s supposed to be dedicated to Social Security and Medicare covers more than 50 percent of the budget. The rest is from individual income and miscellaneous taxes.

Since both China and Japan, our two largest creditors, have effectively stopped investing in U.S. Treasuries, it’s getting harder and harder for our government to borrow. In March, the Treasury’s Bureau of Public Debt (notice that it’s not called the Bureau of Public and "Government" Debt) ran thirteen auctions where they raised $352.2 billion in borrowed money. This means that $277.3 billion went to pay interest and pay off securities maturing in March. The balance of $74.9 billion went into the General Fund to spend.

Here’s one example of what happened when the Bureau tried to sell the popular two year note:

Acceptance wasn’t much better in the other auctions. Henry Paulson, Secretary of the Treasury and Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, face something of a dilemma. They could raise interest rates to attract sales, but that would increase inflation. Guess which way it will be eventually decided, especially when considering the following.

This close to the debt ceiling puts control in the hands of the democrats and the public. Both want us out of Iraq. Most of the people would like to send General Tommy Franks back to Qatar to put his invasion plan in reverse, getting our boys out as fast as they went in.

Of course, Vice President Dick Cheney has taken to the airwaves to dispute such a move because “we can’t win by telling the enemy when we’re going to quit” and we can’t leave because we went in. No doubt he would like to change the rules of football where you play until you win with no time limit. Or how about a prize fight where neither party knows how many rounds will be fought or how long each round will be. And why bother to count the holes on a golf course? Does his logic make sense to you? If you can’t win in five years, if it takes more time than World War II, get the hell out and cut your loses. Know when to fold ‘em.

Most of all, the democrats, who must realize by now that they’re in power only because voters want to stop Bush from spreading more murder, mayhem, and misery throughout the Middle East while bankrupting our country, also have the power to cut off his major source of funding simply by doing what the republicans did to them in the late months of 1995. Refuse to raise the debt limit.

Without the ability to borrow, the government shuts down. They would have to divert all of their tax receipts budgeted for discretionary needs to the occupation and probable invasion or bombing of Iran.

The stakes are a lot higher this time, but today it’s the democrats with a “contract with America” in their pockets. All they need is the guts to do what Newt Gingrich and Bob Dole did to them just to get an agreement to balance the budget. At the very least, they should be able to walk out with a deadline to get out of Iraq, win or lose.

If our elected democrat representatives don’t do it, then it’s up to the public. Most of the current borrowing is coming from the big retirement houses like TIAA-Cref or company and individual 401(k) and IRA managers who think little or nothing about putting their neighbors and fellow citizens deeper in debt. They buy Treasuries because they still believe they are “the safest investment in the world.”

If citizens tell their retirement account managers to dump all of their Treasuries or at least not invest in any more, the government will go broke in no time. And they can’t commit war crimes with empty pockets. And it’s obvious they can’t live without borrowing.

On the other hand, do you really think the general public can get organized enough to carry out a silent revolution like this, no matter how badly things are going against them? I doubt it when we can’t even stop the obvious and blatant theft of our Social Security insurance money.