From time to time I will have someone blast me over my concern for the national debt and soaring deficit.  I had one fellow conservative tell me, “Not to worry, it’s only paper and not real.”  I’m sorry but somehow having a significant portion of our nation mortgaged and the paper owned by foreign nations, is paper that I am concerned about.  That reality gives them far more influence and leverage than any of us should find comfortable.

I would be pleased to discover that I am wrong, and it is nothing, but an assortment of number positioned strategically on paper and meaningless in the overall scheme of things.  However, I do not believe that day will ever present itself, and it is a matter deserving of serious concern. 

Our national debt of $23 Trillion is beyond my ability to relate.  It has been projected to grow by 150% in the coming years.  Most members of various financial think tanks all agree it is a problem, but there is no consensus as to how to resolve the issue.  In fact, most of the proposals that filter out of those consortiums of wisdom are unrealistic and frequently terribly misleading.  That too is cause for concern.

I had one well-meaning person tell me that this was easily solvable by simply printing more money and paying off the debt.  That is a pathway to hyperinflation and a total stagnation of our economy.  It is also a means to cause every nation in the world to look the other way and ignore any requests we have for borrowing money.  Who would lend money to a nation that attempts to shaft them by printing money thereby devaluing the worth of that money and leaving them on the short end of the financial stick?  Would you?

The only possible pathway to fiscal stability and making any serious indentation in the national debt would require some very austere measures.   There is no current politician or previous politician willing to advance those measures because it would mean the end of their political careers.  We all know that their careers are far more important than ‘fixing any problems’ in America.  We are secondary to their political ambitions and that is a major part of the problem.

Sweden and Switzerland have taken some drastic measures to rectify their financial woes.  America would be required to reduce debt as a share of the national income by about 60%.  What politician or voter would allow that drastic measure to see the light of day?  The tightening of the belt would be so severe that many, now on the government dole, would be cut off cold-turkey and that is not going to happen.  It would affect those of us on Social Security as well and that is not a palatable pathway for millions of struggling Americans dependent on their SS checks.

America’s threat of insolvency is very real.  There are those on the Left who are hoping for an economic meltdown to defeat Donald Trump.  What could they be thinking?  Is defeating or destroying him worth destroying the country? 

With the current push of the Democrats toward Socialism and away from Free Market Capitalism, it seems that many do not realize how economic stability occurs.  Maybe that is because they too believe that it is simply paper, and we can print our way to solvency.  We can neither print our way to solvency or borrow our way to prosperity.  Both have exacerbated our current problem and like it or not, we are facing some austere times in which we will deal with the debt, or be destroyed by its weight.

The Keynesian economists have seduced many politicians into the belief that they should love debt and not fear it.  Hopefully, we will find the courage to begin seriously dealing with the matter before we fall over the proverbial financial cliff and plunge into the abyss of financial chaos and darkness. 

Our own Federal Reserve Chairman has declared, “The federal budget is on an unsustainable path with high and rising debt.”  I don’t care if it is a Republican or a Democrat driving the fiscal bus, this must be addressed.  The almost $1 Trillion deficit of 2019 is totally unacceptable and is a dangerous act of ignoring the problem.  The debt began to grow exponentially under George W. Bush, exploded under Barack Obama, and now appears totally out of control.  It now appears that even if we elected a very fiscally conservative president this beast is on the loose and unstoppable. 

We are facing a fiscal Day of Reckoning!   There will come a time when we will be required to pay the piper.  Will that be our generation, that of our children, or grandchildren?  I suspect it will be our grandchildren, and the incredible burden and dark future we are leaving for them is unforgivable. 

It is no wonder that there are Millennials and Gen Z’s who are leaving work for mental health issues and becoming suicidal.  What would we expect with the incessant ‘doom and gloom’ of the Climate Change Activist, the staggering national debt, and other issues? 

The 24/7/365 attack on the current president deeming him to be Lucifer incarnate and the most dangerous and deranged man on the planet opens the door to a mindset that produces a failed society.  Chaos, anarchy, and total surrender to the paranoia and fear are in the cauldron of destruction the Left has been brewing in today’s world.

Our present economy is encouraging, and we should all be praying for the continued growth in the GDP.  However, that growth needs to be coupled with a systematic plan to reduce spending.  The management of our elected officials reminds me of a person who gets a $100 raise and on the strength of that raise incurs 5 times that amount in debt.  A fiscally responsible position would be to take a significant portion of that raise to pay down current debt and invest the rest.  That is not the path of most people and assuredly not in the mentality of our politicians. 

Alexis de Tocqueville warned of a condition that would destroy America if it were to transpire.  He said, “The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money.”  That day arrived and has been with us for decades.  That is another reason to not allow politicians to serve decades in Washington.  The longer they stay in power the more susceptible they are to corruption, the influence and appeal of money, position, and power.  America will not survive unless ‘we the people’ take back oversight of our government and hold politicians of all stripes accountable.

I am concerned and as we enter the Holiday Season, I am more keenly aware of debt, deficit, and spending.  Each of us, individually, need to take the necessary steps to trim our budgets.  Each of us as members of the republic needs to demand our politicians do the same thing with our federal tax dollars. 

God bless you and God bless America!