Americans should focus on our national debt before it's too late

by Arnie Webre, Jr.

Wow!  Is it ever fun to have a huge party, but it can be hell to clean up afterward.  In essence, that is what is happening, right now, in the United States of America, in regards to national debt.

Although Europe has debt problems also, we need to tend our own garden, at least until our national debt gets back to normal levels.  The smaller our debt, the better, the more options we have, and the more competitive America will become.

While some people are trying to continue the party, I want to see everyone, including our elective representatives get the peoples' business done by compromise, as there is no other way to get anything done in the divided legislative bodies of the United States government.

That is what our politicians were elected for.  Contrary to popular opinion, they can do what is right for America and get themselves re-elected, without continuing to spend money that we do not have and have not had since John F. Kennedy had the last true, un-manipulated U.S. national surplus.  In the past, Republican and Democratic administrations would simply change the basket of commodities that make up the Consumer Price Index (CPI) if they needed to have a surplus, instead of a deficit, or they wanted a deficit to appear much smaller than it was.

Without compromise from all sides we cannot get anything done, politically or economically, about saving our over-indebted national government and a sputtering economy.  Americans have enjoyed a high standard of living and way of life for countless Thanksgivings, Christmases, New Years, and every day of our lives, while much of the rest of the world has lived in greatly reduced circumstances.

If we cannot get our politicians and all Americans to compromise to get the business of America done, we and our way of life is finished, like burnt toast.

Now, just after Thanksgiving of 2012, we either all start worrying about America, and stop thinking about ourselves [how we are going to get something from the government or how we will get re-elected, even if the strategy to get re-elected is not in the bests interests of the United States], or we will be the ones soon living in vastly reduced circumstances.

To all politicians, no matter what your beliefs or party, either you get the business of America done, or I and millions of other Americans will vote you out, just as soon as we can get rid of your selfishness.

You were not sent to Congress, or other high office, to grandstand and not get the business of the people of this commonwealth done, so you can get yourself re-elected  [it is the other guy's or the other political party's fault, not mine.]  You were raised to your current position by the votes of the people of the United States, and you do work for us and the interests of our country, the United States of America, not your own selfish vested interests.  

We have all known about this problem [the unsustainable debt of the United States of America] for a very long time, and politicians have, in the past, just pushed it down the road, so they could get re-elected.  We no longer have that luxury.  Currently, we are living off of the good graces of strangers and foreigners who buy our debt, U.S. Treasury notes, bills, and bonds.

On the other hand, there are clear signs that those strangers and foreigners are tired of the uneconomic ways of Congress and various presidents of the United States [Democrats and Republicans] spending their money, not ours, like it is water.  If anyone does not see this as a problem, then consider who is buying U.S. Treasury debt, right now.  The largest purchaser is Chairman Bernanke of the U.S. Federal Reserve, not China or Japan.

The party is over, and either you head for the door, or you will not be re-elected.  You must change or your days in government are numbered.  Who ever heard of U.S. Congressmen, Senators, and Presidents spending money borrowed from foreigners, like they were all drunken sailors on liberty?  Since when did our standards get so low?

A debt to GDP ration of 30-percent or less would insure the survival of the United States of America as a free democracy for generations to come, as long as it did not get any higher than that.  No debt, ever, would ensure that there would forever be a strong, free democracy in the United States.

Historically, too much debt destroys nations, and we are already overloaded with it.  Therefore, we need to tip-toe, quietly and softly, away from the edge of financial disaster, as we are hanging over an extremely deep canyon, the fall from which will certainly kills us, figuratively speaking, as a nation.


So, to all politicians of the United States of America, if you cannot rise to this occasion, then get out of the way so we can elect someone else who can.

If you want to get re-elected, you need to do like the politicians of Canada, Brazil, Chile and Singapore did, by enacting laws that decrease government expenses and  inefficiencies, that increase revenue fairly, without an undue tax burden on any one group, by getting rid of unnecessary or counterproductive exemptions and special interests, change the way that politicians are elected and do produce balanced budgets and significantly decrease our national debt, before we elect someone else who can.

Leadership is about making right decisions, not popular decisions.


I am a proud American, and I want to be proud of our government and our political leaders again.  Politicians in the United States have a horrible image problem right now.  If you want to know how to repair your image, re-read this article and give it to your staff and make it mandatory reading.

God Bless America!