The missing question

Here are excerpts from article that omits the question always asked when the subject of funding for Social Security, Medicare, or any other social program is discussed. The missing question is, “Where will the money come from?”

NBC News WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 2026 

Pete Hegseth asks Congress for billions more in military funding.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he estimated the cost of the Iran war so far has totaled $37.5 billion, and he’s asked Congress for $67 billion more for the rest of the budget year.

Hegseth’s $37.5 billion figure is higher than the $30 billion figure presented to lawmakers earlier this month. Meanwhile, NBC News has reported that the Defense Department’s internal overall cost for the war so far is much higher: between $80 billion to $100 billion.

The $67 billion extra that Hegseth is requesting is in addition to the $891 billion that has been approved for the Pentagon through Sept. 30.

Trump is separately requesting $1.5 trillion for the 2027 fiscal year, starting Oct. 1. Senate Democrats clashed with the defense secretary over the lack of progress in a war that Trump has repeatedly claimed the U.S. has already won.

I won’t bore you with the rest of the outrageous details, like lives lost, inflation, and Trump’s incompetence. Let’s focus on the money.

At no point in the article is the question, “Where will the money come from?” asked. The assumption — and it’s the correct assumption — is that the federal government, being Monetarily Sovereign, simply will tap a few computer keys and the necessary dollars will be created.

That is exactly where all federal financing comes from: Congress votes; the President signs; the Treasury taps computer keys and voila, the money comes into existence. 

No, it isn’t even printed. It just exists as numbers in accounts, like the numbers in your bank account.

The only time you ever hear that question, “Where will the money come from”? is when the discussion is about funding for programs that benefit the lower 90% income/wealth/power people. We’re referring to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food assistance, housing assistance, education assistance, etc.

Social Security supposedly is running short. Medicare supposedly can’t afford (whatever). Now Congress scratches its bribed head and wonders how Social Security possible could survive without cutting benefits or raising taxes. SS already, incredibly, levies taxes on the benefits you supposedly have paid for.

And Medicare has cut services and there are all those unnecessary deductibles, so you have to pay for extra insurance to have full coverage. And feeding the poor is “socialism,” or “communism,” or “encouraging lazy people not to work,” or “inflationary.”

And need we speak of all those tax breaks for the rich?

But billions more to fund a war? No problem. Congress will vote. The President will sign. And the Treasury will click a few computer keys, and the numbers will show up on the government’s books. And that is precisely how the government pays for everything it buys.

That’s right. Federal spending is not funded by your taxes. Federal spending is funded by new money creation. The only purposes of federal taxes are to:

1. Control the economy by taxing what the government wishes to limit and give special treatment to the rich (who by the way, love tax laws because of the tax breaks the rich get and you don’t), and
2. To assure demand for the U.S.  dollar by requiring taxes be paid in dollars.

Your federal taxes pay for nothing. Only your state and local taxes fund anything.

After more than 20 years of trying to explain this to the public, I have decided that the people either are too stupid to understand or simply doesn’t care that they are being lied to. The simple facts are:

1. The federal government is perfectly capable of paying for free, no-deductible, comprehensive health care for every man, woman and child in America
2. And paying for a generous Social Security stipend for all people of all ages
3. And funding all the infrastructure upgrades America needs
4. And paying for education, grades K – 16 and beyond
5. And doing it all without collecting a penny in taxes so that the states (which are not Monetarily Sovereign are relieved of that burden).

And no, federal spending does not cause inflation, which is caused by shortages that can be cured by federal spending.

Yes, the question, “Where will the money come from?” is disingenuous.” But the real question is, “Are the American people really too stupid to understand the simple facts or do they simply not care that they are being cheated and lied to”?

Which is it?

Hello? Hello? Knock, knock. Anyone?

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell