Reducing the U.S. Debt

The United States debt: a number that, in the past several years, has become a source of shock and worry. Perhaps what is most shocking is that Washington-while giving good lip service to debt control-still often acts as though the debt threat does not exist. And it is indeed a threat; a threat that, if ignored, can have brutal consequences for our country.

U.S. Debt: a Threat to Our Future

Our national debt now stands at over twelve and a half trillion dollars. While the number breaks all prior records, it is the rate of increase that is truly disturbing. From 9/30/2000 to 9/30/2009, our outstanding debt increased by roughly 110 percent. This is obviously unsustainable, a fact that is finally being recognized.

The New York Times reported that a "sobering assessment, issued . . . by Moody's Investors Service, provided a reminder that even Aaa-rated United States Treasury bonds, supposedly the safest of safe investments, could be downgraded one day if Washington failed to manage the federal debt." Such worries not only harm our domestic economics; they put at risk our financial standing in the international community, and may give foreign countries pause when considering investing in the US Government. Besides the obvious fiscal harm, there is a darker side to this danger. Countries that are highly invested in the US can use the threat of withdrawal as leverage in international relations, putting U.S. interests at risk.

Fiscal Irresponsibility in Washington

This past December, The Heritage Foundation's Brian RiedI wrote that from 2001to 2008, "Non-defense discretionary programs. . . . grew 32 percent faster than inflation." Yet rather than make the hard but necessary budget cuts we need, Congress has continued to increase spending: "Congress gave these programs an 8 percent increase in [fiscal year] 2009 and is in the process of adding another 8 percent for FY 2010. . . ." As RiedI notes, none of this even considers the stimulus funds-a set of programs, necessary or not, which should have prompted fiscal belt-tightening.

Four months and millions of dollars later, Washington continues to act as if we had a budget surplus. The Congressional Budget Office shows (as reported by the Washington Post) that under President Obama's 2011 budget, the already increasing national debt would, in a decade, be 82% of our GDP. Furthermore, the budget "includes more than $2 trillion in new tax cuts and nearly that much in new spending increases,