EDITORIAL: Does anyone care about the looming debt disaster?
What do you plan to do about the national debt?
There's really no reason to ask, since we already know the answer -- Nothing.
That was again made clear this week when
The deal runs through 2021, so politicians won't have to grapple with pesky things like deficit ceilings and possible government shutdowns during an election year.
Basically, it gives both parties more leeway to try to buy votes -- and put them on the nation's credit card.
It's already carrying about
This is the same
Of course, that was in 2012 when
Under
That might sound like a lot, but it would have been about 0.3 percent of the
To show how serious
None of the 20 presidential aspirants in next week's debate address the issue on their websites. Many have endorsed free college, free child care, Medicare for all and the elimination of student debt.
Are they for president or Santa Claus?
All of the senators running cosponsored the congressional resolution endorsing the Green New Deal. Depending on which study you believe, that would cost
Trillion.
It's hard to wrap your mind around that number. One way is to check the digits on the national debt clock. There are 14, and the final few spin so fast your eyes cannot keep up.
The debt increases approximately
For two centuries, a tenet of the American Dream was to provide a better life for your children than you had. Those spinning numbers will make that impossible, but nobody listens to fiscal realists.
They explain how we're projected to spend
They explain how the flood of red ink will raise interest rates. If rates increase just 1 percent next year, we will spend more on interest than we do the
They explain how rising interest rates choke private investment, which stifles economic growth. They explain and explain, but it's too abstract for many to grasp.
Let's put this in real-life terms. If we had to pay the debt today, every person in America would get a bill for almost
That's not going to happen, but the average annual income for a family of four will decline
At its current trajectory, the debt will be almost one and a half times the size of the entire
It's easy to blame the swamp creatures in
Latest Editorials
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Does anyone care about the looming debt disaster? -- Editorial
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We keep electing these people. We revolt when anyone dares mention cutting entitlements like
If a politician actually told us what is needed to avoid the looming disaster, we wouldn't want to hear it.
So the burning question for debaters shouldn't be, "What are you going to do about the national debt?" We should all start preparing for a question our children and grandchildren will be asking in 30 years.
"How could you have done this to us?"
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