Gen. B.B. Bell
I haven't heard much about the national debt lately. With a debt increase extension put in place (as always) by Congress and the President several months ago, and with other issues in the news -- gas prices, Presidential election politics, apparent economic growth or lack thereof -- the debt crisis facing America has been effectively cubbyholed, again. Indeed, the numbers are so numbing in their magnitude and the consequences so obscure, who really cares? Right? Anyway, we're doing OK and maybe getting better, aren't we?
For the record, the U.S.
currently owes a debt of about 15.6 trillion. That's about $49,000 for every living American and $137,000 for every living American who actually pays taxes. If you pay taxes, are you ready to pay up? Or maybe we'll just let the kids take care of it. This debt grows at about $4.2 billion a day, every day of the year. The next time the President and Congress will be forced to deal with our debt won't be until January 2013 when the current debt ceiling law will demand it.
So, trying to find a way to resolve our debt has been put beyond the next Presidential election, ensuring that it won't loom too large as an issue. Thanks a lot Mr. President, Senators and Congressmen / women. I really appreciate this great gift you keep giving me. I pay taxes. But again, who cares? We're doing OK, aren't we?
As part of the current debt extension "deal", our political leaders agreed to make serious cuts to future defense spending. They didn't touch entitlement spending. Thank you. Frankly, some of the mandated defense cuts do make sense and are warranted, as we have concluded operations in Iraq and are drawing down operations in Afghanistan. However, some of the cuts make no sense at all and put us at risk in a very, very dangerous world. But, regardless of how much we cut defense spending (it's only about 19 percent of annual federal spending, a heck of a lot less than the 40 percent during the Vietnam War), it won't make a dent in the growing federal debt.
The causes of our runaway debt increases are clearly and undeniably Medicare and Medicaid. Of course since they are "entitlements", they are not subject to any normal budget cutting ax and they will continue to grow uncontrollably as long as Americans are content with being entitled. Are you content with being entitled? Meanwhile, defense spending, which is purely discretionary spending, will be cut and sliced in the hope of making somebody believe that the President and Congress are doing something. They are not.
So while defense and security spending are chopped and slashed in the upcoming post Iraq / Afghan War era, the national debt will continue growing at its current pace, hitting the next legal ceiling in January. Then, predictably, our politicians will act like they're doing something, pass a new and higher ceiling for a couple of years, and we'll go back to being OK. We are OK, aren't we?
By the way, the United States currently has eleven aircraft carriers, several of them very old. Many anti-defense pundits want to take this number to ten or lower to save more money. We need14 carriers for proper defense, according to credible experts. In the last four weeks alone - just four weeks - our national debt has increased by $122 billion. With $122 billion, the United States could have purchased 15 - that's right 15 - brand spanking new Gerald R. Ford Class aircraft carriers, the pride of the nation and a powerful message to the world. Would you like to talk tanks or aircraft? I'll save it. But, I wonder what we actually bought with that $122 billion in new debt this past month? It surely wasn't a new aircraft carrier, much less fifteen. But, we're OK, aren't we?
With their past record of irresponsible leadership, I don't suppose that the President and Congress will deal with our national debt issue until our economy collapses, inflation is in a runaway mode, our defense has been crippled, we've become bankrupt by failing to pay our creditors, and there are riots in the streets. But, of course, that's not going to happen because we're doing OK. We are, aren't we? Oh, don't worry, the kids will take care of it.
General (Retired) B. B. Bell
genbbbell@gmail.com