November 15th and Congress returns to Washington . If Secretary of the Treasury, John Snow, and George Bush get their way one of the first things on the agenda will be raising the national debt limit, an absolutely meaningless game that the federal government plays with itself more and more frequently like a teenager locking himself in the bathroom with the latest Playboy centerfold.

On Friday, May 23, 2003 , just before taking off on last year's Memorial Day weekend, Congress voted to raise the debt ceiling from $6.4 trillion to $7.384 trillion, just short of a trillion dollar increase.

Well, that’s gone already. The national debt now stands at $7.430 trillion which, not counting the government’s Thrift Savings Plan puts us just $25 million below the ceiling where we’ve been holding since October 14th.

Why not cut taxes when you can tack a trillion dollars onto the other side of the economy? Put it on the credit card.

The public, the media, and the watchdogs don’t seem to care. They may be waiting for Charles Ponzi to rise from the dead with some sort of cockamamie solution.

On November 3, 2004, the Treasury News reported that; “The Treasury will auction $22,000 million of 3-year notes, $15,000 million of 5-year notes, and $14,000 million of 10-year notes to refund $48,013 million of publicly held securities and Government account holdings maturing or called on November 15, 2004, and to raise approximately $2,987 million of new cash.” The auctions were held on November 8th, 9th, and 10th, but the money will not be released until November 15th.

That’s $48 billion ($48,013 million) that has to be paid back on the same day Congress is confronted with raising the debt limit. What choice do they have?

What will probably happen is that Congress will provide a temporary increase to the national debt of a hundred billion or so, just enough to tide the government over the holidays. Then they’ll raise it another trillion (will that be $1,000 billion or a $1,000,000 million?).

To put a trillion dollars in perspective, if you set aside $1,350,000 a day, every day, from the birth of Christ, the beginning of the Gregorian calendar, right up to today, you still wouldn't have a trillion dollars.

Meanwhile, several other things are happening that do not bode well for the economy. These go beyond outsourcing jobs and a balance of trade almost $600 billion in the red.

For one thing, despite the propaganda you hear about a “booming economy” individual income tax receipts continue to go down, indicating just the opposite. Corporate taxes that account for only about ten percent of the government’s revenue are up, but the flow of personal income taxes that accounts for more than half of the government’s revenue is falling. For the month of October 2004, the Treasury reported $64.5 billion received in individual income taxes while at the same time last year it received $67.6 billion. That's a decrease of $3 billion for one month. And last year wasn’t a good year either.

Do you think that the Bush administration will adjust its budget downwards to account for this falling revenue? Or will they simply borrow more? Notice that the Treasury quote above accounts for $3 billion "of new cash." You can expect the next trillion dollar rise to the national debt to be used up in less than eighteen months this time.

At this rate of borrowing, how long do you suppose it will take to reach a debt that’s 100 percent of the Gross Domestic Product?

On top of that, with the decrease in the value of the dollar it is becoming more and more difficult to borrow money from the foreign countries that hold a major portion (see chart) of our debt in the form of Treasury securities that can be cashed-in at any time. Watch for significant increases in interest rates to make Treasuries more attractive with repercussions in things like the housing bubble and easy borrowing for individuals and companies here at home.

Lastly, let’s not forget that in his latest speech to the American people Usama bin Laden claimed that his intentions were to bankrupt the United States – that for every dollar he spends, the U.S. spends a million.