Fiscal Democracy

...is when every single dollar of taxes goes to pay for mandatory transfers or public debt, leaving nothing for actual government which must be funded exclusively by debt.  Progressivism in a nutshell.  A really big Nut Shell.  The Australian explains the dilemma (one, oddly enough that Australia has largely avoided by not following the Obami and Euro playbook).  We are literally spending ourselves to death.

The problem is not new, but the radicalisation of protests in France is giving it new urgency. Over time, Western governments have accumulated financial obligations towards their electorates, which they can no longer serve. The problem was described in January this year by a US economist, Gene Steuerle, in USA Today as "fiscal sclerosis", or "fiscal democracy". According to Steuerle, the US was broke because its mandatory spending consumed all its income, resulting in all its discretionary expenditure being financed from unsustainable debt. Every single dollar and cent earned through taxes last year had to be spent on serving past commitments and interest payments. "Fiscal democracy" is not much of a democracy, because democratically elected leaders have no space to manoeuvre, as their hands are bound by 'the programs and ideas of the past - even dead - policymakers".