black…MYstory

A few weeks back, the President vetoed the Democrats’ domestic spending package. He accused them of acting like kids with a credit card.

I found this to be quite ironic, considering how he is paying for his war in Iraq. You see, he makes you believe that, because he cut taxes for the rich and is not raising income taxes on the middle-class, the U.S. must have enough cash on-hand to pay for war. But, this is not true. In actuality, we are borrowing hundreds of billions of dollars. So, if you don’t see Bush say anything about lead paint or asbestos in kids’ toys from China, you’ll just have to understand. You see, it’s hard to criticize someone when you owe them over $900 billion.

Please understand, while the President talks about Democrats “wanting to raise your taxes”, let’s be real. If you take out a loan, you have to pay it back or face the consequences. The bill will come due and we are going to have to pay up. The only issue is that either you pay now or pay later — with even more interest accrued.

I say all that to say this — Bush and Congress are burying us in debt. Right now, the national debt is rising at a rate of $1 million per minute. Think about the following:

It means almost $30,000 in debt for each man, woman, child and infant in the United States.

Even if you’ve escaped the recent housing and credit crunches and are coping with rising fuel prices, you may still be headed for economic misery, along with the rest of the country. That’s because the government is fast straining resources needed to meet interest payments on the national debt, which stands at a mind-numbing $9.13 trillion.

And like homeowners who took out adjustable-rate mortgages, the government faces the prospect of seeing this debt — now at relatively low interest rates — rolling over to higher rates, multiplying the financial pain.

So long as somebody is willing to keep loaning the U.S. government money, the debt is largely out of sight, out of mind.

But the interest payments keep compounding, and could in time squeeze out most other government spending — leading to sharply higher taxes or a cut in basic services like Social Security and other government benefit programs. Or all of the above.

Like I said pay now or pay (more) later. Don’t you think it’s long past time for us to ask the serious questions about our economy?

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