Is the National Debt a Problem?

[bw1]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_public_debt

Here's a good wikipedia article on the US national debt. Looks like
without some drastic changes our federal government will go bankrupt
sometime between 2030 and 2040. I think that may be an optimistic
estimate. That's when the fixed annual expenses that the govt. has
obligated itself to (primarily Social Security, Medicare, and the
interest on the debt) are projected to grow beyond our tax revenues.
Don't you think we might start feeling the pinch way before then as
those fixed percentages grow ever bigger in relation to our income?
There is an inevitable brick wall that we are hurtling ourselves
toward with big government spending and our foot is on the
accelerator. I'm thinking this isn't a good situation. Anybody with
me on this one?

[bw1]

The majority of US citizens don't seem to understand the concept of
fiscal responsibility. For that reason it's going to take a huge
effort by those who have common sense in this department to be able to
turn public opinion back in the right direction. We face an uphill
battle at the moment in this regard, but I don't think we should
shrink back just because it's not the most popular view. We have to
work to change the popular view. We need to show people why it's
important that our government gets back on the road toward
sustainable, responsible fiscal practices. The truth is we are
digging ourselves into such a deep hole right now that it will be
very, very painful to dig ourselves back out. Every day that we keep
up the current big-spending trend we are digging ourselves in deeper.
The Congress and the President currently have no incentive to hold
back on spending unless the people stand up and say "enough is enough"
and "now you've gone too far, let's bring it back down a notch".
People with some wisdom and forethought must stand up and make their
voices heard. Maybe the severity of what's at stake will finally
begin to wake up the sleeping majority if we can pay attention to the
signs of danger on the road ahead of us and get the word out. We need
a radical shift in policy. The policy of deficit spending and the
allowance of a national debt is something the congress can't be
trusted to maintain in a responsible fashion. A little known fact is
that the US has never been out of debt except for a brief time under
one President -- Andrew Jackson! A big justification for this is that
people think our leaders need to have the power to spend as much as
they need to in case of national emergency. Yes, a national emergency
might call for extra spending. But, what that argument fails to take
into account is that we could indeed be running a surplus during the
good times. Why shouldn't we be building up reserves during the good
times so that they can be used in the event of a crisis? That's true
fiscal responsibility. How much more productive would it be if the
government could invest a surplus rather than continually paying
billions of dollars in interest on it's debt? We ran a surplus in the
1990's. We ought to be able to do it as a general rule in the future
and we all ought to vote for leaders who will work for that. Any hope
of a prosperous future for our grandchildren is being stolen away from
us daily by the current administration's total lack of financial
sense. We have got to bring balanced, measured thinking back into our
public conversation. Every day that we stay silent about this is
another day we sell out our grandchildren's financial freedom.

[chipper]

My reply to the following article is positive. bw1 has done a good job
and I entirely agree with his premise. Unless Americans stand up and
complain to the Obama administration they will go merrily on their way
trying to spend their way out of something that should be left alone.
For example, I am one of the majority of historians who believe
Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal spending caused America to stay in
the great depression for almost 11 years -- much longer than European
countries who did practically nothing.It's on the record and
historians don't dispute that fact. In her book, The Forgotten Man,
Amity Shlaes said, "The big question about the American depression is
not whether war with Germany and Japan ended it. It is why the
Depression lasted until that war. From 1929 to 1940, from Hoover to
Roosevelt, government intervention helped to make the Depression
Great." The current recession, like the Great Depression, has been
prolonged by the vast amounts of indiscriminate and wasteful spending
that has been thrown at the problem -- as if money, like water, can
put out a gas financial fire. It won't happen. No, what the Democrats
are about isn't totally extinguishing the terrible financial crisis
but growing government. Thrift has not been a part of the American
government, and even some notable businesses, lexicon for many years.
Yes, there are companies frugal enough to go it alone without
government funding, like Amazon and Ford. They will remain
independent, but the General Motors, Chryslers, AGIs, and underfunded
banks are both the victims and the cause of the problem.
Can we lay the total blame on Wall Street? No, of course not. The
major blame for this recession lies in Washington. But the solution to
the problem is not there. The solution is to let teetering banks and
other companies fail. That's the American way. In the past we didn't
guarantee any company's survival. Obama is only doing it now because
he wants to shore up votes for 2012, those of the unions. Buying votes
is despicable and shameful. That is what we should be writing and
calling the White House about. They need to hear our voices.
I predict gloom and doom under the economically naive Barak Obama. And
as for bw1's prediction that America won't go into bankruptcy until
2030 to 2040, even he hedges on that figure. We all need to take into
account the funding of baby boomer retirements. This is a large bubble
of people born between 1948 to 1964 -- a 16 year period -- and the
oldest boomers will be age 62 next year, 2010. So the volatile period
of time for America to become bankrupt from what will become known as
a depression -- unable to pay our bills -- is between 2010 and 2026,
and more likely somewhere in between like 2018 which is only 9 years
away.
The depression could drag on for years past that as the Treasury's
printing presses whirl away creating new money each year, diluting any
money Americans have socked away. People on fixed income will be wiped
out. Rampant inflation is in our future, especially if we don't voice
our opinions strongly now against this madness.
Don White dusa...@yahoo.com

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