It's weird, looking at the increase in the National Debt. If you're not really careful, doing your research, you can make a mistake.

I wanted to look at the amount of money that the Government has had to borrow, during the last month and a half. So I went to the Web-site of the Bureau of the Public Debt. I looked at the debt as it stood, at the beginning of the fiscal year (October 1) and compared it with the debt as it stands, today.

The problem is that October 1 was on a week-end. Debt figures are only calculated at the end of business days. There was no calculation for the debt, as it stood on October 1. So I looked at the debt,as it stood on October 2. And, since the debt hasn't been calculated for today, yet, I had to compare October 2 with November 9. The amount of borrowing, therefore, that happened between those dates was about $55 billion. That amount of borrowing works out to a projection that the debt will increase by $440 billion, during the current year.

"Wow," I thought. "We're not spending money as fast as we were, before. That's great!"

Then, by accident, I happened to look at the debt figures for the Friday before the end of the fiscal year (September 29). Boy, did I get a shock. Turns out, the Government borrowed $42 billion over the weekend between the end of the old fiscal year and the beginning of the new! If I were to consider that $42 billion to be part of the current year (instead of part of the year that just ended), the figures tell a different story. Instead of spending $55 billion in a month and a half, the Government has spent $97 billion. If that rate of borrowing continues, we will have to borrow $776 billion, this year. That's more than we borrowed, last year!!!

You already know what the impact is, of last year's deficit. I had to shut down most of the Executive Branch. What will have to happen, now, with an even larger deficit? What else will have to be shut down?

Debt is a destroyer. This nation has got to get out of debt.

Today, I find it necessary to strike $4.1 billion from the "Science and Technology" line-item in the budget of the Department of Energy. The Federal Government is no longer providing subsidies for scientific research, at least in the energy sector.

American oil companies are generating profits that are larger than the entire economies of some of the world's more-developed nations. At present, these companies are returning much of that profit to shareholders, as dividends. Unfortunately, the world is in a situation that many analysts have named "Peak Oil". "Peak Oil" means that the world's oil production has, most likely, peaked, and that the amount of oil that can be supplied to run cars, factories, and every other aspect of life, in an industrial society, is going to fall. Some may doubt that "Peak Oil" exists. They doubted in the 1970s, too, when forecasters predicted that the ability of the USA to pump oil out of the ground was soon to fall. Events have proven the doubters to be wrong and the forecasters to be right; the United States' oil production has been decreasing rapidly, for 30 years. Rather than distributing their profits as dividends, American oil companies should be investing those profits into research. It is imperative that the United States find an alternative fuel source. The Federal Government cannot force companies to allocate their resources in responsible ways. But if "Peak Oil" is, indeed, a reality, then American oil companies had better get on the ball, or they will be out of business in 20 years, regardless of the size of their current profits.

I'm closing down the Small Business Administration. The SBA provides loan guarantees for small businesses, across the country. That means, if a bank lends money to a small business, and the business can't repay the loan, the Federal Government will step in and pay it. No. Sorry. We can't afford that program, any more.

Having cut the research budget of the Department of Energy and closed down the SBA, I'm left with a dilemma: where am I going to find that final $46.3 billion that I have to cut? If I were to close down the Department of Interior, I could save about $10 billion. But that would leave no one to manage the National Parks and other Federal lands. If I were to close down the Department of Labor, I could save $53 billion. But that would include cutting off unemployment benefits to people who have lost their jobs as a result of the Federal Government's policies.

No. If I'm going to shut down most of the Executive Branch and cut $620 billion out of the economy, I'm going to be inflicting misery on millions. The least these people have the right to expect is that they can take a ride over to a National Park and forget their troubles, for awhile, amid the scenery that they will find, there. And I'm not going to throw millions out of work, through my budget cuts, and then refuse to pay unemployment claims. So the Department of the Interior and the Department of Labor stay open.

I have to fund the Department of Justice, or Federal crimes won't be investigated and prosecuted. I have to fund the Department of the Treasury, or the country won't be able to collect taxes and report on spending. I have to fund the Department of Homeland Security because we haven't reached 2008, yet and repudiated the War on Terror. So I assume it's still a national priority. DHS stays open. The Department of State and its related Agencies stay open because, after the last 6 years, the United States has got to do everything we can, to demonstrate that this nation can "play well with others". Diplomacy has got to be a priority for the nation, going forward, so the Department of State gets funded. The Department of Veterans' Affairs gets funded. We send people to war, to get their arms and legs blown off and their brains addled, if not worse. We can't renege on our commitments to the people who defend us. The Army Corps of Engineers gets funded. If we can't keep the Mississippi River watershed in navigable condition, our economy is truly screwed. And the levees in New Orleans still need work. As I said, before, the Social Security Administration and the Medicare portion of Health and Human Services will stay open. With that in mind, I have no alternative but to raid the Department of Defense.

I'm taking my final $46.3 billion out of the "Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation" line-item in the budget of the Department of Defense. That leaves $26.8 billion available for that purpose. DoD will simply have to prioritize the weapons systems that it wants to test and evaluate. Maybe the microwave rifles that cook a man from the inside out. Maybe the chemical weapons that eat the flesh off of an enemy, leaving him nothing but a skeleton. Whatever the Defense Department decides, as far as prioritizing the weapons systems it has under development, I'm sure it will be the correct decision.

With that final cut, I've done it!! I've cut $620 billion from the Federal budget, balancing the books for the year. I've done this in the least-intrusive way I knew how, and yet I've left a swath of devastation that can be seen from outer space. You've heard of Sherman's March to the Sea? Well, you've just witnessed Blaze's butchery in action. I think I've probably equalled Sherman in brutality and surpassed him in economic destruction.