Debt, Decisions, and Destiny

Several hundred billions of dollars have been spent by the federal government in just the last few months with much more to come. There is almost no way to understand the amount of money that is in this proposed federal budget.

The Obama people ar e fond of saying that the Bush legacy was a $1.2 trillion dollar debt, which they say is terrible. That happens to be true, and Bush didn't veto enough government spending bills. However, now the Obama administration says that the solution i s to quadruple the debt by adding an addi t ional $3.6 trillion. Most expert es t imates now conclude the debt with interest will be about $12 trillion, very close to the yearly GDP of the United States.

There are many Democrats as well as Republicans who are beginning to question this kind of reckless spending. But this isn't only a national discussion. It also has to do with Putnam County.

It is very important for our citizens to understand the source of government money. In fact, the government has no money. It is always broke. It has two possibilities—print money or take it from you in taxes. Printing it lowers the value of the money in your wallet because there is more paper in the marketplace. The current administration recently ordered an extra trillion dollars to be printed and distributed.

The second and only other source of government income is taxes taken from people who earn money. Every time you hear of a federal program or grant or spending bill, you should think about how much money you want to take out of your wallet, piggy bank, child's college fund, or retirement fund to pay for it.

Of course, grants are wonder ful—somet imes even good—but they are not free. Air and love might be f ree, but not government spending. Too many people approve of raising taxes and spending money, but many don't earn it. No matter what, though, the bill collector will knock on everyone's door eventually. Americans are willing to pay taxes for necessary spending, but rarely do politicians tell us specifically where the money is going, whether or not the contracts have been bid competitively, and whether every dollar has been watched carefully.

Our local, state, and national society depends on people who produce goods or services, and then pay their taxes. About 40 percent of people in the United States don't pay any federal income tax, and there's currently an attempt to ensure that the non-taxpayers outnumber those who do pay taxes. That would ensure a one-party national government, because people who do not pay taxes would never vote for a party that requires taxation. If you like the sound of that, just remember that the top ten povery cities in America have one thing in common: They have one-party governments.

What if the taxpayers suddenly decided they had enough money for themselves, were fed up with producing for others, and jus t qui t working? Thi s scenario was foretold in a 1950s novel by Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged, in which she depicted what might happen in a country where the producers get tired of supporting all of the nonproducers. The producers decided to qui t working and jus t shut down. No grant s , no medical care, no freebies, no charity, no new businesses, no jobs. It quickly became clear that hard working people, the producers, and even rich people should be shown some respect. Remember, they pay the highest taxes, create all the jobs, and support all the charities.

We either see ourselves as a nation of people who want to achieve, produce, succeed, and contribute to society or else we see ourselves as a people who want to rely on the producers to create "free money" and support us with grants and federal spending. There is an old rule of physics: If you have too many people riding in the wagon, and not enough people pulling the wagon, the wagon stops.

The other hidden danger here is that too many people will get comfortable with the idea of the government taking care of them, and the government will do that if they get the chance, because once the government controls how they get their money, the people become serfs, dependents, and give up individual freedom. Of course, some people need to be taken care of , but they are a small percentage of our great country. And there is a gap between the people who need help and the people who want help.

Throughout history, there have been only two models: a government that works for the people and reports to the people or a people who work for the government and report to the government. When people report to the government, individual freedom is lost forever. If the government cont rol s how the majority of people get their money, then we will all report to the government , and the legacy we will leave our children will be a complete loss of individual freedom.

Be sure to pick up a copy of the Courier next week for Part II of this editorial.