Our national debt is 13 trillion dollars. To put this into perspective, 13 trillion dollar bills could circle the earth’s equator about 50,000 times. This is an astounding amount of money. For the government to just break even each citizen would have to pay the government 42,906 dollars. To me, this proves that there is not an end in sight for this catastrophic debt, an unwanted inheritance that will plague our children for generations. How could our government let this happen? How could they keep spending when the money doesn’t even exist?
One reason for this is our country’s constant need to be involved in conflict around the world. As a major super-power we feel a responsibility to promote democracy, sometimes with military strength. But war costs money, draining our imaginary bank account even further. If this was not our country’s nature, we would be in much better shape financially.
Another cause is the government’s wastefulness. A prime example of this is Alaska’s “Bridge to Nowhere.” This was a project that would use 398 million dollars of the government’s money so that Alaskan’s could travel to Gravina Island more efficiently than on a ferry. The project was stopped and left a bridge and millions of dollars to have no purpose whatsoever. There so many “bridges to nowhere” throughout our country. Even here in Austin we used tax payer money to build a multi-million dollar metro rail that no one rides. I’m all for public transportation and many other things the government funds, but only if it is useful, and efficient.
Can we stop this growing problem? This hole we keep digging deeper? Probably not. At least not in our lifetime. But maybe we can proceed more cautiously and realize that even imaginary bank accounts run out.
1 comment:
I agree with your points about the bridge to nowhere, and other similar public projects that use up large amounts of money without much use, or without even their completion. The government should probably more carefully decide on which public transportation projects are truly needed, and which will be used.
I agree that wars we have engaged in have been costly in money and resources however unlike the "bridges to nowhere" I don't consider them to be a waste or fiscally irresponsible. We do often jump at the chance to aid other nations, but I can confidently say that our involvement has prevented situations from further worsening overseas, and has helped others find the road that would help them find liberty as well.
I feel that you have completely overlooked one of the largest contributors to our national debt; entitlement programs. In fiscal year 2009 alone, around 1.4 trillion was spent on Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security alone. Which makes the transportation, foreign/domestic military defense and all other things associated with defense budget look like spare change in comparison. Not to mention the new Obama-care will be taking a nice cut out of the budget as it is implemented over the next few years.
Overall I do agree that the government's debt has gotten way out of hand, that smarter spending over a long period of time is the solution. In the meantime we do need to stop spending money that isn't there, and stop building up the debt if we are going to deplete this growing amount. There is no "quick fix" to eliminate such an out of hand problem.
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