Legacy of debt

We have been railing on the legacy of debt we are leaving our children with tax-and-spend government officials.

The federal deficit was $161 billion in 2007 and looms at more than $1,600 billion next year. Hugh Hewitt’s column today is a good read:
http://townhall.com/columnists/HughHewitt/2010/02/12/no,_senator_grassley_just_say_no

Texas Workforce Commissioner Tom Pauken wrote:

In late January, the U.S. Senate voted to raise the United States’ debt ceiling to $14.3 trillion, or $45,000 for every man, woman, and child living in America. Our massive federal deficit levels should send up warning flares to all who are interested in the short- and long-term health of our nation’s economy.

Economists have taken notice of what is happening on the government debt front. Recently, Barron’s Magazine published the first part of its annual Roundtable talks of 2010 on the nation’s economy. Many of the participants warned of the long term consequences to the American economy of the explosion of government debt over the last decade. The total debt (the sum of government and privately held debt) of the United States doubled from 2000 to the present from $26 trillion to $53 trillion. This drove the debt (both public and private) to 370 percent of GDP or Gross Domestic Product, the highest since the Great Depression. Excessive government borrowing reduces resources available for private investment, prolongs the economic recession and sets the stage for a “jobless recovery” -- that is, if the economy recovers at all.

Read Pauken’s’ piece here on the DallasBlog: http://www.dallasblog.com/201002111006125/tom-pauken/growing-government-debt-hurts-small-businesses.html