There’s an old saying that goes: “only two things in life are certain – death and taxes.” It’s true, we mortals have resigned ourselves to the fact that death is inevitable and taxes are necessary – well, some taxes. After all, taxes are what keep our public schools open, our roads drivable, and our homeland secure.
Well, some taxes.
You see, for every five dollars you pay the government in taxes, almost one full dollar goes not to schools or roads or the military, but to paying off debt – our national debt. Though not officially sanctioned by Congress, you could, in effect, call this your “debt tax”.
In 2005 the national debt of the United States rose to over 8 trillion dollars. That’s trillion with a “T”. It’s a number so big it almost loses its meaning. Almost. Maybe that’s why the President and many in Congress seem to overlook it as a priority.
Let’s put this debt in perspective. If you were asked to sit down, take out your checkbook, and write a check to cover your share of the national debt, you would be making out a check for a little over $27,000. You’ve got that kind of money lying around, right? That amount equals 540 new textbooks, over 50 new computers, or almost three-quarters the salary of a new teacher. And that’s just your share. Now multiply that $27,000 by the number of people in your neighborhood. You could almost construct a new school. But instead your checks would be made out to China or Japan, who together hold over half of our public debt.
And while President Bush continues to increase spending at an average rate of 5.6% a year – and no, that’s not including the Iraq war – he’s also cutting taxes. Less money coming in and more money going out defies common logic. Any average American running their household budget this way would go bankrupt.
The worst part is the President is not really cutting taxes – he’s undercutting our economy and infrastructure. Remember, every dollar added to the national debt is another dollar (plus interest) added to your “debt tax” and another dollar (plus interest) taken away from schools, roads, and security. Well, I wish the President would remember.
Congress is no help either. Yes, they have proposed budget cuts – like cuts in Medicaid and food stamps and other programs that aid the poor – but the maximum Congress has come up with is $50 billion in cuts over 5 years. Keep in mind the national deficit – the amount we spend above and beyond than the amount we earn – is projected to be almost $1.5 trillion. I’m not a mathematician, and now I know there’s not one in Congress either.
Over and over we have been told by our President and by our Congress how the United State wasn’t prepared for 9/11 and how 9/11 was a wake up call. Yes, it was a wakeup call. But it doesn’t mean we are allowed to hit snooze on other issues that are just as important to our national security – including our economic stability. And no, we weren’t prepared for 9/11. But are we any more prepared for a potential perfect economic storm that could decimate the United States economy for decades?
The situation brewing is a recipe for disaster. Not only is the United States borrowing money to function (now over $8 trillion) and paying interest on that money, it is also witnessing an increasing trade deficit (which rose by $6.8 billion to $66.1 billion in September 2005), a housing boom that may soon come crashing down, and a citizenry with an average savings rate around 1%. If for some reason China and Japan no longer agree to lend the US money – or worse yet ask us to pay back our debts – it would send our economy into a tailspin. And with hardly anyone saving their money, almost everyone would have nothing to fall back on.
Giving foreign countries that much power over our economy is not only un-American, it’s just plain stupid.
Of course a financial 9/11 can be avoided. President Clinton showed us it was possible to have a budget surplus and pay down our national debt. To once again put us back on the road to economic independence and security strong and swift action must be taken to reduce our national debt. Congress and the President need to take their hand of the snooze button and focus on this issue, even if it does mean taking a page from the Clinton playbook.
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ol’ Slick Willy was good for America I think. I think he earned more respect that Dubyah ever will.
Great post Justin!
Why is it that the American people can’t seem to wake up until it’s too late? They voted for Bush twice. Twice. Part of me says they deserve what they get. And the other part of me says no one deserves that - particularly not our children or their children, who will pay the greatest price.
I heart Willy
Thanks Hypoxic! I’m sad to say my mom voted for W the first time. I got her to come to her senses the second time around!!
Plus have you seen the tax-cuts he wants to put into place?!? They all, of course, benefit the extreme wealthy. YEAH!? That’s really going to get our national debt down!
Yeah I read that the republicans in congress had an embrassing defeat recently when they were pushing for a tax cut for investors while also cutting food stamps and medicare. That’s just plain ol’ mean!!
The worst part, is when he became president, we actually had a national surplus. Do’h!
I think that everyone should pay taxes, and you should be taxed based on your income. You make more, you pay more. Simple as that. It isn’t punishment for making more, as many republicans will argue, it is simply bearing your portion of the national burden. Until we all think and act as a single nation or a “societal unit”, then we will never truly come out on top. Unfortunately, the poor are always the ones that suffer. Sigh…
Oh Justin–you almost had me up until the Clinton comment. #1) He inherited an ecnomy on the upswing from Bush 41. #2) A total moron (and I actually believe him to be a genius) could have inhabited the Oval Office during the economic boom of the 90’s and balanced the budget/saw a surplus. The capital gains taxes coming in were enormous. #3) He gutted the military, enacted policies that limited our ability to prevent terrorist acts and generally, for a Georgetown grad, was crazy in his foreign policy.
Don’t get me wrong. I love that Clinton came from nowhere and actually did become the kid who could grow up and be president and he is hard to dislike on a personal level. He’s charming and off the charts smart. I also am one of the more right leaning people who think Bush is out of his minds with spending. However, let’s not canonize Clinton. The majority of his economic success was not his and a result of pure luck/timing, plain and simple.
Duane,
You had a national surplus because of the capital gains taxes coming in and Clinton’s unwillingness to do anything about terrorism or other threats. That nuclear pact we got into with N Korea worked out great didn’t it? The inaction after the Kobal Towers and the Cole attacks worked out great. The cut and run from Somalia? More exceptional foreign policy.
I’m not going to blame anyone but let’s face it. 9/11, the crash of the markets afterwards, the job losses, the national devestation, the ongoing war (whether you agree with it or not) are all contributing factors to the debt.
To be fair, the debt is a sore spot with me mainly because of the tax cuts and slashes in social programs–especially when, Dems included, vote themselves a pay raise. But all in all, Bush Co has done a good job of holding this place together. Unemployment is at CLinton levels. Stock market is racing back towards 11k. This is going to be 92 again where Bush hands Hillary a country in the process of positive change.
A simple flat tax system could work as an option for lower earning people but high corporate earnings generally (things like Enron excluded) help the economy grow in that these companies have more money for research and development, to reinvest back into their company resulting in more employment opportunities/job growth..they provide health insurance to people and so forth.
Well aren’t you little miss intimidating Lisa! haha No one wants to comment after you!
I think your comments are great. I’m still thinking through the flat tax idea - want to know more on how that works.
Keep in mind I don’t want to cannonize Clinton either - I do think he is a great guy but I do know he wasn’t the best President by far. We haven’t had one of those in decades!
As for taxes themselves, i’m one of those crazy people that don’t mind paying taxes - if they they money they generate are being used properly. And I do think there is a lot of mismanagement in our government.
Also, we need a better image abroad. If we would have stayed out of Saudi Arabia in the first place we wouldn’t be riviled as Infidels across the Middle East, the Cole (no relation) may not have been bombed, and 9-11 may never had happened. But maybe’s just suck.
So now we have to work with what we’ve got…which is a quagmire (to quote Teddy Kennedy) in Iraq. Why are we there again? Oh right, they attacked us…oh wait…no they didn’t…hmmm…