As the coming election gets closer I decided to deviate from a “true Georgia” column to one that can be applied to all Americans. I’m talking about the national debt. It’s relevant to Georgians because we are all inheriting a piece of it, as well as our kids and grandkids.
The U.S. debt will increase this year by over a trillion dollars. That’s significant enough by itself but the real figure is about $8 trillion dollars a year. You see the U.S. Treasury has to pay off maturing Treasury Securities each year. We borrowed that money into existence and must borrow again to pay it off. In fiscal year 2013 U.S. Treasury Securities totaled $7,546,726,000,000 and new debt totaling $8,323,949,000,000 was issued. 2014 will be significantly higher.
Why so much debt each year?
Well our leadership decided a few years ago that they could save a lot of money on interest payments by borrowing over a shorter time frame. In other words the government (taxpayer) has to pay more to borrow for a longer period of time than it does for one year. So the strategy became borrow for a very short period of time and then roll it over and over and over. This process has saved the federal government (taxpayer) billions in interest payments. But it has set us on the course to borrow about 8 trillion a year to keep up with our current obligations. The problem…what happens when the rest of the world decides it won’t loan us more money at cheap interest rates? We are in some serious trouble!
Today you the taxpayer hand out checks to 49 percent of all Americans. This is based on the latest Census Bureau figures. Last year, the “takers” took over $2 trillion in benefits from the federal government (taxpayer). This makes the primary function of the government one of wealth re-distribution. Over 70 percent of government spending goes to “dependence-creating programs” spread out over 80 different “means tested welfare programs.” This scheme will work as long as we can borrow money at super cheap interest rates. Factor in the retirement of the baby boomer generation and the amount of money needed to meet the promises made to them will send the borrowing further into orbit!
The American way of life for half the population is tied to borrowing. That should be a national security issue in anybody’s mind. Estimates for our unfunded liabilities now run as high as 220 trillion dollars.
Back to Georgia…With an election coming in a few short weeks voters should pay close attention to the candidates with the most fiscally responsible background. If we don’t we may see a change in America that we can’t afford to fix.
