The general election season is upon us. Even with the start of the campaign already more than a year past, we still have much to come. The most brutal campaigning is unfortunately still ahead of us, as the crowded primaries yield to the one-on-one slugfest lasting until Election Day. Many issues have been discussed by both sides, but there is one I find disturbingly lacking. That, of course, is the national debt.
The national debt can be a confusing subject, but it’s ultimately one that could really sink this country if we are not careful. The national debt of the United States of America at the time of this writing is about $19.3 trillion. That includes all outstanding securities owed by the United States. To put in perspective just how much money that is, one trillion is one thousand billion dollars, and one thousand million dollars make up each of those billions. On a more personal level, this debt is equivalent to $59,720 dollars of debt per U.S. citizen.
“Why should I care?” is often the question I hear. The national debt doesn’t seem to affect us personally now – or does it? Interest on our existing debt makes up almost $248 billion of our current budget of $3.8 trillion per year. That is billions of dollars in tax revenue that doesn’t pay for schools, roads or defense. It instead goes straight toward paying interest on money our government has borrowed. That amount grows constantly larger because each fiscal period, the federal government spends much more money than it made in tax revenue. Our current budget deficit, money we are borrowing to pay for our budget, is $521 billion per year.
But who would want to provide funds for our federal government to borrow? The simple answer is investors. When you buy a treasury bond that matures over a certain amount of time, that money can be used for borrowing. Large investing firms both at home and abroad also invest in this debt, as they can get very favorable interest rates from the government. The problem is when we continue to rack up deficit after deficit without attempting to balance our budget. As more and more debt is accumulated, interest payments will continue to increase. This takes up money that could have funded other programs and therefore increases the amount of revenue we need merely to maintain current spending levels. Eventually, if we do nothing to stop this growth, we will be forced to borrow money to just pay interest on our existing debt. That would be the death spiral for our country’s finances.
There are two main ways we could reduce the debt, and neither is popular. On one hand, we could raise taxes. Many are already against such measures, and we would have to make sure we don’t increase spending to match the new income. On the other hand, we could cut spending. That would mean cuts to many programs such as the military and social services, which both sides of the aisle support. So what is the solution? That is up to what we are willing to do to get our finances back in order. However, every second we wait makes the problem harder to solve. On www.usdebtclock.org, you can watch in real time as the debt continues to grow.
As a young person, stalling on this issue will affect my age group much more than any other, and in the end, perhaps 50 some years from now, we will have to end up footing the bill. It would be a crippling blow that this country might not survive. So for those of you who say this isn’t your problem, please reconsider the debt has grown tremendously during the last few decades, starting in the 1980s. It’s time for us to consider our future and demand we get our fiscal house in order. We as young people should not have to pay for the last generations’ inaction. Also remember, whenever politicians promise a massive new program, ask them just how they are going to pay for it. We are already $19 trillion in the red; we don’t need to make it any worse.
Connor Kockler is a student at Sauk Rapids-Rice High School. He enjoys writing, politics and the news, among other interests.
