Early this week, the United States of America hit a new milestone—we surpassed $17 trillion in debt. With the recent “government-shutdown-debt-ceiling -Obamacare” debate, I wanted to take a few minutes to share my two cents.
Everyone—with the possible exception of avowed communists—agrees that too much debt is bad, even if we can’t agree on what that amount may be. Out of necessity, it is only a matter of time before some generation of leaders will be the ones who turn the tide, lower government spending, and begin the process of paying off our debt. It will be ugly and painful at the time, but at least there will finally be a real debate over appropriate levels of government spending. History will be kind to them, because future generations will be grateful that those elected officials didn’t kick the can to them.
[pullquote] Even if it is messy in the present, the fight to cut reckless spending is worth it.[/pullquote]
This should be something on which we can all agree! Even those who believe government ought to be in the “wealth-transfer business” can concur that our government spends a lot of money in mysterious ways. If you don’t believe me, check out the most recent “wastebook” which exposes spending on things from $325 thousand on a robot squirrel to as much as $50 billion in overpayments on office supplies and services. Surely, even the most ardent socialist would agree that wasting money in this manner takes away from other, more productive ways to spend. A leaner government would be better suited to accomplish the goals of any ideology.
This is an area where Millennials must lead, since our current elected officials seem unwilling to—they are handing $17 trillion worth of accumulated debt to us after all. We need to realize that even if it is messy in the present, the fight to cut reckless spending is worth it. History will vindicate the effort because our children don’t want—or deserve—our left-over debt as an inheritance.
