Still Fuming on the Debt
The USA Today recently had an OpEd piece bemoaning the Federal Deficit and the government racking up trillions of dollars in additional debt.
For those of you have been sleeping since, oh, the Jackson administration, the National Debt is over $11,000,0000,0000,000. That comes out to be $37,000 per person or almost $100,000 per household. Do you have 100 grand to spare? I know I don’t.
That piece fed right into some of my fears for the future of this country, fiscally. Now I fully understand that at different periods of time, our government has gone through highs and lows. The debt has gone up, the debt has gone down, but only once did it ever go away. Most of the time, various administrations look at the debt and say, ” as long as GDP growth outpaces the deficit (so the percentage of the debt of GDP remains constant), then we’re OK.” We’re just treading water.
Well I’m tired of swimming…and I don’t think we’re just treading water anymore!
I ran across this quote from Alexis de Tocqueville, a French political scientist studying American government in the 1800s. Tocqueville makes this prediction:
“The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money.”
Now let’s stop and think for a minute. In recent memory, what has won the most votes, promises of increased spending or decreased government benefits? Sure, many politicians “claim” that they “want” to pay down the debt, but every election cycle we see the Federal Government continue to grow! How many elected officials brag locally about the “pork” that they’re bringing home? (My U.S. Representative, Chet Edwards, loves to get his face on the front page bragging on this exact accomplishment)
If we look at what has happened with the debt during the various administrations, only Harding and Coolidge actually reduced the national debt at the end of their terms! Both of these men did their best to reverse course from the Wilson administration that boosted the national debt by 700%. But even with these reductions, the debt was still 550% higher than 1910 levels!
And it has only gone up ever since. Outstanding increases include FDR (1000+%), Reagan (180%), GW Bush (100%), GHW Bush (56%), Carter (42%) and Clinton (40%). After FDR’s tremendous spending, the debt was somewhat manageable until around the Nixon administration. Since then, it’s seen double, sometimes triple, digit growth under each and every president, Republican and Democrat alike!
We seem to be heading somewhere fast; I’m just afraid of the destination!
For those of you have been sleeping since, oh, the Jackson administration, the National Debt is over $11,000,0000,0000,000. That comes out to be $37,000 per person or almost $100,000 per household. Do you have 100 grand to spare? I know I don’t.
That piece fed right into some of my fears for the future of this country, fiscally. Now I fully understand that at different periods of time, our government has gone through highs and lows. The debt has gone up, the debt has gone down, but only once did it ever go away. Most of the time, various administrations look at the debt and say, ” as long as GDP growth outpaces the deficit (so the percentage of the debt of GDP remains constant), then we’re OK.” We’re just treading water.
Well I’m tired of swimming…and I don’t think we’re just treading water anymore!
I ran across this quote from Alexis de Tocqueville, a French political scientist studying American government in the 1800s. Tocqueville makes this prediction:
“The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money.”
Now let’s stop and think for a minute. In recent memory, what has won the most votes, promises of increased spending or decreased government benefits? Sure, many politicians “claim” that they “want” to pay down the debt, but every election cycle we see the Federal Government continue to grow! How many elected officials brag locally about the “pork” that they’re bringing home? (My U.S. Representative, Chet Edwards, loves to get his face on the front page bragging on this exact accomplishment)
If we look at what has happened with the debt during the various administrations, only Harding and Coolidge actually reduced the national debt at the end of their terms! Both of these men did their best to reverse course from the Wilson administration that boosted the national debt by 700%. But even with these reductions, the debt was still 550% higher than 1910 levels!
And it has only gone up ever since. Outstanding increases include FDR (1000+%), Reagan (180%), GW Bush (100%), GHW Bush (56%), Carter (42%) and Clinton (40%). After FDR’s tremendous spending, the debt was somewhat manageable until around the Nixon administration. Since then, it’s seen double, sometimes triple, digit growth under each and every president, Republican and Democrat alike!
We seem to be heading somewhere fast; I’m just afraid of the destination!
Labels: debt, Federal Government, spending
posted by Cogito at 1:04 PM
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