It is wrong to create a debt unless you have a reasonable and viable plan to repay it. Wouldn’t you agree?
It is difficult to discuss the US national debt in set terms because it is growing so rapidly. Internet sources put it at about $28 trillion, and the US Treasury Department says the debt was about $28.5 trillion as of June 2021.[1] In an article dated 3 May 2021, Forbes Senior Investment Contributor Mike Patton referred to an estimate by US DebtClock.org that the national debt may be as much as $89 trillion by 2029.[2] Deficit spending by the federal government for 2021 alone is projected to be around $3 trillion.[3] These figures do not include public debt held by state and local governments.
According to the “short scale” used in the United States, a trillion equals one million million. Stated differently, a trillion is one thousand billion.
Mathematics is not my strongest skill, especially when dealing with numbers this big. Does it not mean, however, that if the federal government made the necessary adjustments to achieve a three-billion-dollar budget surplus every year, it would take 1,000 years to pay off (only the principal on) the federal deficit spending for 2021 alone?
People have said that the only way the United States can pay off its national debt is to “grow our way out of it.” That is, increased revenue from economic growth is the only way we can successfully reduce or eliminate the national debt. Sorry, but I just cannot imagine how the US economy can grow enough generate the kind of revenue needed to satisfy a $28 trillion dollar debt in a reasonable amount of time.
In my opinion, if the debt continues to grow, eventually deficit spending will be necessary just to pay the interest. Does that mean that the debt will become impossible to pay off?
As if the current debt was not bad enough, the Democrats in Congress and the White House are fighting for legislation commonly referred to as the Infrastructure and Reconciliation Bills. If approved, the result could be as much as $4.5 trillion in additional deficit spending. The Republican minority seems to be unable to stop it.
The Democrats say that increasing the taxes paid by the “rich” (including business and industry) will fund the new spending they are proposing. Their opponents say that if the rich were taxed at 95 percent of their income, it still would not be enough to pay for the new spending the Democrats are asking for, let alone reduce the national debt.
What kind of people have we elected? What kind of people would saddle future generations with this kind of debt?* It is absolutely monstrous.
Further, the US dollar is the currency on which the value of the world’s other currencies are based. What happens if the value of the dollar plummets or is “revalued?” What happens if the American government defaults on the public debt? Could these precipitate a world-wide economic crisis? As Sarah Palin would say, “You betcha!”
Over the last 40 years, both political parties have engaged in policies that have created public debt. Both parties are responsible for the current national debt. Therefore, We the People must insist that the federal government use any and all legal means available to right this terrible wrong.
* Note:
For all who have been the recipient of a free, compulsory American public education,
future generations means our children, their children, and so on for the predictable
future.
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