Ignoring the U.S. debt problem won't wash it away

Washington Examiner ^ | 08/29/2014 | Philip Klein

[SeekAndFind]

There are few characteristics of human nature that are more immutable than the tendency to be focused on the short term.

And just like a heart patient straying from his diet as time passes after his heart attack, the political class has collectively decided to tune out the federal debt as an issue.

Between 2009 and 2012, the federal government ran deficits exceeding $1 trillion per year, for a total of $5.1 trillion over four years. During this time, the issue of deficits and debt became a prominent part of the national political conversation.

In contrast, a Congressional Budget Office report released Wednesday projected that the deficit for fiscal 2014 would narrow to $506 billion. Given that the annual deficit is now projected to be a substantially lower and there is no longer a scary-sounding “trillion dollar deficit” talking point, the debt has receded as an issue.

Yet the main problem was never the short-term deficit, but the longer-term fiscal imbalance.

Even when deficits were at elevated levels during the economic downturn, the CBO had been projecting that they would narrow during the middle of the decade as the economy improved and the federal government collected more tax revenue, only to grow again as spending accelerated at a faster pace.

This general trend is still the case. Though the size of deficits is expected to be relatively stable through 2017, they are expected to increase every year after that and reach $960 billion by 2024, the end of the projection period.

To be clear, it’s perfectly feasible for an economy with the strong credit rating of the United States to sustain massive short-term deficits, because the expectation is that the government will be able to pay back investors over time. This was the case during World War II,

[cloudmountain]

If the U.S.A. fails, the WORLD fails.

The WORLD knows this.

[Opinionated Blowhard]

Once again, this isn’t a “debt” problem, its a SPENDING problem.

[Gen.Blather]

“I like the FReeper who made it to the woods with his trailer.”

I moved 20 miles from town into a doublewide in the woods. If I had to I could live off the lake behind me and the blasted deer who eat everything I plant.

[Iron Munro]

It's bad enough to accrue this kind of debt but much worse when we have nothing of value to show for all the money spent.

It was all pee'd away on sweetheart deals to enrich democrat financial doners and to give more free stuff for moochers, low-info's and illegals to buy their loyalty and votes.

“There are two ways to conquer and enslave a country. One is by the sword. The other is by debt.”
-- President John Adams

"There is nothing wrong with creating debt as long as you use that debt to create value."
-- Anonymous

[bert]

the strategy is to steal as much as fast as can be during the next two years

that means continuing to increase the debt limit so stealing can continue

[cloudmountain]

If America falls, the world falls.

We won't fall. It would take more that one deranged, arrogant pimp president to bring us down. Those who voted for him are the villains in this story...especially the SECOND time.