General Welfare Clause

December 25, 2009

During a recent internet search I discovered a historical chronology of the general welfare clause in the constitution. How a battle between the United States Supreme court and FDR in the 1930's resulted in our countries financial social commitments today. Some financial date in the story is outdated as Congress and the federal government continues expanding and making even greater commitments. One example is the chart showing the federal debt limit set at $4,500,000,000.00 in 1990. Congress is currently raising that limit from $12,100,000,000,000.00 to $13,600,000,000.00 in anticipation of 2010 federal commitments above revenue.

Putting the proposed federal debt into perspective, the United States total GDP is only $14,100,000,000,000.00. Japan has the second largest economy in the world and a GDP of only $4,900,000,000,000.00.