Weekly Opinion Editorial
NATIONAL DEBT IS AT CRISIS POINT!
by Steve Fair
President Donald Trump has some
pretty significant accomplishments in his first two years. He has appointed two members of the
SCOTUS. Unemployment is at a forty nine
year low. Manufacturing jobs in the U.S.
are growing at the fastest rate in three decades. In foreign policy, the POTUS has opened a
dialogue with North Korea, moved the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, and
withdrew from the one-sided Iran treaty.
Trump approved Keystone and Dakota Access pipelines. The POTUS and Congress passed the largest tax
cut in U.S. history. Few presidents in modern history have
accomplished as much as Trump in their first two years. One thing he hasn’t tackled is the national
debt.
According to
USdebtclock.org, The current U.S. national debt is $22 trillion dollars. That is 76% of the total Gross Domestic Product
(GDP)- the highest ever in non-wartime. The
debt equates to $180,000 liability per taxpayer. The U.S. federal government budget deficit is
$6.1 trillion dollars annually and growing.
Last year the federal government spent $4.28 trillion dollars, but only
collected $3.37 trillion. In the past
twenty years, federal government revenue collections have increased by 80%, but
spending has increased by 148% during that same period. The interest on the national debt is $479
billion and the interest rate is expected to double over the next four years.
Two thirds of the national
debt is held by the public. The federal
government owes it to buyers of U.S. Treasury bills, notes and bonds. That includes individuals, companies and
foreign governments. The other one third
is the government borrowing from itself.
They raided social security for years, but as baby boomers retire over
the next few years that cookie jar is going to become empty. America’s debt is the largest of any country
in the world. It is about the same as
the 28 member European Union.
During the 2016 presidential
campaign, then candidate Trump said he would eliminate the nation’s debt in
eight years, but based on the first two years, that is not likely to
happen. He promised to grow the economy
by 6% annually, therefore increasing tax revenue and to find waste and to cut
government spending. There has been
little cutting of government. Based on
current projections, President Trump will spend at about the same rate as President
Obama.
How does the U.S. national
debt affect the average American? First
it slows economic growth. When the debt
to GDP ratio gets over 75% for an extended period, interest rates rise and the
dollar starts to lose value vs. other currency.
Consumers pay more for products that are imported. Food and gasoline prices rise. The government has to set aside more money to
service the interest on the debt and core services are often affected.
The national debt issue is
not a partisan one. Members of both
Parties must agree that our current rate of deficit spending is not
sustainable. The national debt has
reached crisis mode. President Trump and
Congress must address the federal government out of control spending before it
bankrupts America.
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