The National Debt/Spending

Our National Debt has reached a breath-taking $12 trillion dollars and is expected to nearly double in the next ten years.  The reason for our debt is unsustainable borrowing to pay for government programs.  Ronald Reagan once said ‘A government program is the closest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this earth.” 

Click here to read an article from Heritage.org regarding the hole we are in...

Unsustainable Debt
-Federal Spending is up 57% since 2001
-Expected $1 trillion dollar decifits for at least the next 10 years...
-Expected deficits over the next decade does not include proposed health care spending
-43 cents of every dollar spent by our government in 2009 is borrowed
-Since WWII, national debt averaged between 23 and 49% of GDP
-Within ten years, it will climb to 77% GDP, an unstainable peacetime record 
-Within ten years, net interest spending will rise to $774 billion, which is 84% of GDP

Republicans Spent Big Time During the Bush years...Democrats are spending even more!
-Spending went from 18% to 21% GDP under Bush, now to 26% under Obama, a peacetime record
-Federal Spending was $21,000 per household during the 80s and 90s
-Bush hiked it to $25,000 per household, Obama raises it to a record of $31,000 per household
-Both parties are to blame for our spending and neither party has been willing to stop it

A National Security Risk
We are putting ourselves at great risk supporting the 'Nanny' state.  While our debt continues to grow, other countries are beginning to question our ability to be a dependable leader in the future.  Our fiscal conservative values of the past had put us in a position to take on debt when we really needed to: WWI, WWII, and the Cold War.  To 'max' ourselves out during peacetime does not allow us the flexibility to take on the unexpected challenges as we have in the past.

We never know when or where tomorrow's threats are going to arise.  Who will we turn to if we cannot 'mind our own shop'?  We've already seen economic threats as a military option from China regarding Taiwan. 

*Will our foreign policy be shaped by those to whom we owe money? 
*Will we be able to defend ourselves let alone our friends and democracy around the world?
*Can we project strength when we are in the 'poor house'?


So where do we go from here?

Stop the Spending
The only way to stop running budget deficits and adding to the National Debt is to stop the spending...simple as that.  Career politicians in D.C. are unable to make these types of hard choices because of special interests and lobbyists.  We see the same issues controlling spending in the progressive states such as California.  Other countries have hinted at not taking on more U.S. debt and our bond rating is in jeopardy.  If we do not stop the spending, the hard decisions may not be up to us.

*What happens if other countries stop lending the U.S. money?
*What happens if we lose our bond rating and the interest on our debt substantially increases?

What we need to do
We have to look at necessary spending versus discretionary spending.  We need an immediate freeze in all government spending while we take a look at actually cutting government programs.  Outside of entitlement programs and defense spending, each government program/expediture should be up for the chopping block.  All new programs and spending should be put on 'HOLD'.

If we are willing to reduce expenses, then the right policies enabling an economic revival would allow us to grow our way out of the debt.  With a strong and vibrant economy, we could once again run surpluses and actually pay down the debt.  Reducing our debt will be a long-term multi-faceted objective, but we have to stop the spending now in order to have a chance.