Letter: At some point there will be a financial reckoning

Those aside, however, it’s unfortunate that debt has become a way of life in this county, at home and in government.

This country is undeniably one of the wealthiest in the world. On the other hand, we are among those nations that have amassed the greatest per capita debt to GDP. Simply put, the government spends more than what it taxes. Americans love to rail about paying taxes but have no problem exhorting the government to meet our infinite demands. While those “wants” have to be paid for, the resounding anthem across the country is “don’t raise my taxes.”

Those words don’t fall on deaf ears, rather they form a familiar echo chamber heard by all those seeking political office, enjoined seemingly into every election campaign. It’s really quite simple, however, and herein lies the problem — we can’t have it both ways.

When President Biden was elected the national debt reportedly stood at $26.9 trillion, a mind-numbing figure that is difficult to wrap our heads around. A billion is a huge number to me let alone a trillion. To put it another way, the debt is $26,900 billion.

The level of debt, however, even taking into account inflation, continues to escalate at an alarming rate.

Six Democrat presidents amassed $633.9 billion of debt from Woodrow Wilson through Jimmy Carter. Six Republican presidents from Warren Harding through Gerald Ford amassed $369 billion of debt. So, when did the wheels fall off the bus?

Ronald Reagan’s administration amassed 1.5 times more debt during his presidency than all the U.S. presidents combined who proceeded him from Washington through Carter.

To be sure there have been historical events that, in large part, contributed to our massive debt. For example, monetarily, wars are very expensive. The expenditures for WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Persian Gulf War, Iraq and Afghanistan added roughly $2.83 trillion (not adjusted for dollars today).

Legislative measures passed by the government in response to the Great Depression inherited by FDR and the Great Recession passed along to President Obama from his predecessor, George W. Bush, likewise added substantial debt. To paraphrase Friedrich Nietzsche, we are our own worst enemy.

One thing is undeniable, at some point in time there will be a financial reckoning if we don’t stop kicking the deficit can down the road to the next generation. At the very least, we owe it to them.

Anthony Johnson

Baker City