July 2, 2012
[06/25/2012] The growing federal debt and the fiscal health of the country The problem of mounting national debt is worse than it has been ever before. The soaring national debt has passed a symbolic point, which is now as big as the entire U.S. economy (GDP). While much attention has been focused on the government’s deficit-spending surge during the recession, and last year’s debt-ceiling debate, no permanent strategy or solution is in place to reduce our debt. While it may seem like a mountainous problem to fix, in its actuality, it is not. The solutions are simple. All we need is our Congress to come forward and take decisive action, if they really want to reduce our debt. Both parties must come together to balance the federal budget, and find fiscally responsible solutions to the challenges facing our country. First, let us be clear on “deficit” and “federal debt” terminology. When the government spends more than it collects in revenue and runs a deficit, it needs to make up the difference through borrowing. The sum of all that borrowing is the national debt (although there are some complicating factors, such as “off-budget expenditures” and how certain kinds of spending are counted for deficits). In other words, the deficit is the yearly shortfall, and the debt is the total amount that the government owes to its creditors from whom it borrowed to make up those shortfalls. It is a really common-sense that if the government cannon raise enough revenue as much as it spends, it will run into debt. That common sense view is not always a common sense to everyone, especially, for the right-wing Republicans. However, by passing a few common-sense policies- ideas that President Obama announced over and over, Congress really can make a difference to bring down our debt tremendously. For far too long our government has failed to rein in spending that continues to increase the national debt. Tea Party has demanded that deficits be eliminated by “severe cuts at all levels of government in spending” that either supports the poor and the middle class or funds crucial public investment. It also demands tax “cuts for the rich and for business.”[1] However, keeping taxes low for the corporates and the rich, cutting for healthcare, social security, education, and government spending is not the solution to our deficit crisis as the conservatives thinks. We simply cannot do both. President Obama also asked multiple times, “Do we want to keep [Bush] tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans or do we want to keep our investments in everything else.?.?.? Because if we’re serious about paying down our debt, we can’t do both.” That is exactly right; in that case, if the government is really serious about paying down the debt, then they have to do a lot more than this to achieve a large reduction in deficit over the long-term. The fiscal health of our nation is a growing concern. Currently, the outstanding U.S. national public debt is $15.7 trillion,
Faisal Nahian