Our Debt and Solutions Thereto

 

 

"Any time someone brings up a solution to the debt issue, many just want to tar and feather that person instead!"

I read a ray of hope yesterday. A young man on Facebook, young enough to be my son, wrote a very good post about the danger of our sky high debt. Quite frankly, I have been amazed that more young people have not written to complain about our debt. Many just give a collective "meh"...

Earlier in the week, Paul Ryan (R-WI) suggested once again we need to aggressively attack our debt issue. He suggested "draconian" cuts of $5T over the next 10 years. As before, he was labeled as cruel, heartless and maybe even the devil by many on the Left. The irony however is this - even with those massive cuts, the debt will still keep growing. Even though the growth in our yearly deficits are going down right now (not the deficits, just the growth), the CBO has predicted by 2020, they will start going up again. In other words, our party will continue.

The conclusion I have come to about our economy is the same one I have come to about our country. Many people just don't care anymore. They have become tone deaf to important issues. Live in the moment! After all, the caldera could erupt at any minute, and then we would all be toast!

Well, here are the facts from Mr. Buzzkill. First, many scientists believe the caldera is going to behave itself for another million years. Could go sooner, but unlikely. The stock market is about to have a HUGE correction. Many experts agree with this. All the recent market gains are as phony as Minnesota springtime in March. The Fed has killed the validity of the market.

If we don't aggressively address our debt, and soon, it will ruin the country. That is a fact. You can't keep drinking when you are already drunk. Simpson-Bowles was a good start; Paul Ryan is a good start. Not a fix, but a good start. The worst thing we can do is what we are doing - nothing.

The bottom line is this - the country is a mess right now, and nobody seems to know what to do to fix it. Truth tellers are excoriated, and charlatans are hoisted up as heroes. Rather than "Dr. Feel-good", we need a "Dr. No". In the sixties, the youth were protesting. They were demanding better of the adults running the joint. Today, many youth are only demanding better apps for their smart phones.

The clock is ticking. Every day the party continues, our debt goes up $2.75B. The caldera may be dormant for another million years, but our debt bomb is ready to detonate in our lifetime.