What Are We Leaving our Children?

Why does no one stand up and say that we cannot place the burden of $9 trillion of debt on our children and grandchildren. We have to make sacrifices, we have to cut spending and have a balanced budget this year, not in five years. I compare this to a college student taking a cash advance with their credit card so that they can deposit the money into their checking account to pay the minimum balance on the credit card. And I know college students that have done this. Another example of fiscal irresponsibility is home owners that take a home equity loan to pay off their credit cards. You may be consolidating your debt, but you are still taking a loan to pay off a loan. That does not sound very responsible, does it? Well, neither is borrowing more money to pay the interest on the debt you already have. And I know senators and representatives that have done this.

Could you look your child in the eye and apologize for not having any food to eat or clothes to wear because you went out and spent all the money on a TV you did not need? It seems that our government representatives are too busy buying TVs.

Numbers of Interest:

• $8,347,486,113,319.40: National Debt as of March 23, 2006
• $27,800: Your share of the national debt
• $184 Billion: 2005 Net Interest on the National Debt. More than Education, Homeland Security, Environment, Agriculture, Healthcare Research and Foreign Aid combined
• 2023: Year when Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Interest on the Debt will exceed all federal revenues
• 60%: Amount Total Federal Spending must be cut to balance the budget by 2040
• 2.5 times current tax levels to bring budget into balance in 2040
• $35.6 Trillion: Social Security and Medicare (parts A,B, and D) shortfall

All numbers are from either the Government Accountability Office (http://www.gao.gov/) or the U.S. Treasury’s Bureau of the Public Debt (http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/opd/).

Photo by KCThinker, Frieburg, Germany, 2005