Will the US Resolve the National Debt?

This article focuses on the national debt and if we as a people have the will to resolve it.

We are all contributing to it the financial destruction of the US. Every time we vote for a tax cut or a spending increase, we add to the national debt. Every time we firmly oppose a tax increase or a spending reduction, we reduce our chances of surviving this national financial crisis. We do the opposite of what we should do. We loosen regulations allowing for more fraud and corruption and increasing the risk of a devastating double dip recession. We lax law enforcement via reduced budgets thereby allowing the new fraud cases to remain undetected and unpunished. We reduce the budgets of our national agencies and our Justice department. And we continue our wasteful spending on weapons our military does not need nor want. Instead our political leaders offer us a pacifier: a clamp on perks which comprise less than one percent of Congressional spending. If we want to save trillions of dollars we need better law enforcement. We cannot afford to look the other way when fraud is detected. That is a very poor way to save money.

The bad news is that we may not have time to correct our course. The one nation, China, that is financing the major portion of our financial debt may suffer an economic bubble burst in 2011 according to several economic analysts.

The most productive lame duck Congress in over a half century has produced nearly a trillion dollars of additional debt. And the new members of Congress supported by the Tea Party are likely to block any progress paying up the national debt. Obama has shifted from the ultra liberal democrats to the progressive democrats thereby attaining a approval rating of 49% in the last month. And Congress has a record low approval rating of 13%.

Furthermore, the people and the US government are not convinced that we should sacrifice anything to reduce the deficit. We are all too busy pointing fingers at each other and blaming each other for the national debt.

The truth is that the national debt is the culminating effect of reduced government income via tax cuts and government spending.

The truth is that the people of the US are unwilling to support the actions needed to pull us out of this national debt. The Commission On Fiscal Responsibility and Reform clearly stated that spending cuts alone will not resolve our debt problems. Hence, I fear that the world is correct: The US does not have the will nor the determination to overcome it's financial problems and will end up just like some of the European nations.

We like our tax cuts, tax incentives and spending programs too much to give them up. Our taxes have not kept up with inflation. Government income is much lower than it should be. The inflation rate has been positive each year as was pointed out by Peter Flom in the comments below. Yet, our taxes have decreased. That's a big part of the cause of the current national debt. It is not surprising that we are borrowing money from China to fight the wars!

Our leaders, Republicans and Democrats could have saved trillions of dollars by insisting that fraud is investigated and those committing fraud be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. This should have be done in Medicare, Medicaid, Welfare, Social Security and Unemployment. But they steered clear of corrective actions on these issues. Major fraud cases were detected and reported but no action was taken. We must end this kind of laxed law enforcement.

If we don't face the facts and do what is necessary, we will soon be owned by China, Europe and the International banks. Then corrective action will be forced on us. It's our choice. Lets make the right decision!