The issue most talked about in politics today is the debt problem. Though this is not a new conversion and is one we have been having for generations, it is just now being talked about in fierce debate. The debt has helped divide this country and pushed us further away from the tough decisions that need to be made. Although I see this as a problem, this week’s rant will focus on the issue of the debt through my own eyes.
Over the course of our history, especially in the post-industrial period, this country has always had to deal with the problem of debt. It was only after the super inflation period of the 1970’s that the country began to take it seriously.
In 1980, Ronald Reagan won running on the premise of “fiscal conservatism” and was able to energize the country. Although Reagan deserves some credit for ending the Cold War and ensuring that a certain percentage of the country got extremely wealthy, he does not deserve the “fiscal conservative savior” label that is ascribed to him today. Reagan not only raised taxes on the majority of Americans, but raised the debt by 20 percent, or 1.9 trillion dollars.
The presidency of George H.W. Bush raised the debt by another 13 percent, or 1.4 trillion dollars. The total cost of these two, “fiscally conservative” Republican presidents was over 2.5 trillion dollars, or close to a 25 percent increase.
Bill Clinton was elected in 1992 with a debt equal to 66 percent of our GDP, he left with a debt equal to 56 percent. Although the technology boom had a lot to do with this, he was still able to hand over a budget surplus to his successor, George W. Bush.
George W. Bush inherited a debt that was projected to be erased by the year 2010 if we continued doing things in the way we were. The Bush administration believed that paying off the debt was not of importance. Former Vice President Dick Cheney even went as far as to say, “Ronald Reagan proved that deficits don’t matter,” and instead instituted the Bush Tax Cuts. By the end of the two Bush terms, the administration had added over $6 trillion and increased the debt by 28 percent. He inherited a debt that was close to 56 percent of our GDP and raised it to over 84 percent of our GDP.
When you add in the $1.6 trillion added by the Obama administration, much of that coming from the wars and the stimulus partially started by the Bush Administration, we now have a debt equal to 93 percent of our GDP.
For the past three years I have seen programs that Democrats have cared about for generations, programs that greatly benefit the American people, get cut and slashed in the name of “fiscal conservatism.” It has gotten to the point where I feel that someone has come in and stolen the money of the American people and then turned around and told them they can’t have the things they care about because we have no more money. It makes me red in the face just thinking about it.
The only way we are going to tackle the debt is through tax reform and becoming more responsible with our money. That means that we need to stop going to war and start investing in our communities.
The debt will not be solved while close to 10 percent of the American people are unemployed and while our bridges, roads, and schools are falling apart. The government should fix the problem before it is too late.
Not only would investing in these projects create millions of jobs but they would help to secure us for the future and prevent us from having to spend trillions instead of billions.
Although this method does involve spending more money, it will be money saved in the long run as these problems are going to need to be solved at some point and it will help put Americans back to work in the mean time. Along with this should be the process of looking at social service reforms that can help us even out the budget. This is my vision.
The debt is a major issue and one that should be looked at seriously. In order to fix the debt I believe that we need to fund prevention and get Americans back to work.
This piece serves as a wake-up call to those who believe things are black and white and that conservatives are frugal and liberals are not. That being said this piece has been very partisan and one-sided, although I have researched my claims and know that they hold water. Although this article will only serve to further divide between the parties, I hope it will encourage people to think about what they hear and look into it themselves.
Jordan Posner can be contacted at jposner@ksc.mailcruiser.com