- Jun 30, 2003
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I was reading the Washington Post and Times the other day and one of the articles was about Congress wanting to block the purchase of more F22 fighters for the Air Force, to the tune of 1/2 to 1 billion dollars, IIRC. Congress and Secretary of Defense Gates claimed that the fighters were not wanted nor needed (which I found a bit odd, but I digress).
At any rate, however, the next article I read was about the rising projected costs of the health care reform plan by Congress and Obama's intent to press the bill into law this year. And yet, the purchase of these aircraft would require skilled workers that (surprise!) will have to pay taxes that will fund initiatives like this one way or another. I sense a small bit of irony here.
Now, with debt currently at $11 T, I can only shudder at the fact that Congress is trying to expand the responsibilities of the federal government without having any solid way of paying for it (yes, let's tax the rich so they'll try and find even more tax deductions and take investments elsewhere where taxes aren't so high). At some point, our creditors are going to refuse loans, and what then? Do we just sell the entire US?
As someone who is about to enter the real world from college, and is very much a financial conservative (religiously tracking my spending and money available; ensuring I can pay my bills in full each month), I unfortunately see Congress running the entire country into the ground. A little bit of debt is a good thing - after all, that's how people buy houses and cars. Most of us simply can't afford to pay hundreds of thousands in cash. But that bit of debt people pay back over a period of time. Currently, we are only paying the interest on our national debt. The interest amounts to about $300B, which is ~10% of the yearly federal budget. What happens when interest rates rise? What happens when health care reform inevitably costs more than projected (and it's already at 1.5T), and our debt increases? Unless Congress makes some major shifts in spending behavior, I am honestly quite uncertain about the future of our country. Our debt will consume larger and larger portions of the national budget, and to combat this taxes will inevitably rise (because I don't see Congress cutting programs). We will be in roughly the same position now - but only with less money than before. What happens when we are bled dry?
Terrorism may be a threat to national security, but with every new spending bill, it seems to me that our national debt should be the greatest concern of all.
At any rate, however, the next article I read was about the rising projected costs of the health care reform plan by Congress and Obama's intent to press the bill into law this year. And yet, the purchase of these aircraft would require skilled workers that (surprise!) will have to pay taxes that will fund initiatives like this one way or another. I sense a small bit of irony here.
Now, with debt currently at $11 T, I can only shudder at the fact that Congress is trying to expand the responsibilities of the federal government without having any solid way of paying for it (yes, let's tax the rich so they'll try and find even more tax deductions and take investments elsewhere where taxes aren't so high). At some point, our creditors are going to refuse loans, and what then? Do we just sell the entire US?
As someone who is about to enter the real world from college, and is very much a financial conservative (religiously tracking my spending and money available; ensuring I can pay my bills in full each month), I unfortunately see Congress running the entire country into the ground. A little bit of debt is a good thing - after all, that's how people buy houses and cars. Most of us simply can't afford to pay hundreds of thousands in cash. But that bit of debt people pay back over a period of time. Currently, we are only paying the interest on our national debt. The interest amounts to about $300B, which is ~10% of the yearly federal budget. What happens when interest rates rise? What happens when health care reform inevitably costs more than projected (and it's already at 1.5T), and our debt increases? Unless Congress makes some major shifts in spending behavior, I am honestly quite uncertain about the future of our country. Our debt will consume larger and larger portions of the national budget, and to combat this taxes will inevitably rise (because I don't see Congress cutting programs). We will be in roughly the same position now - but only with less money than before. What happens when we are bled dry?
Terrorism may be a threat to national security, but with every new spending bill, it seems to me that our national debt should be the greatest concern of all.
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