Editor’s note: This commentary is by Lyman L. Conger, who is retired from owning an employment agency and business brokerage business in Burlington. Prior to that he worked for Union Carbide (Eveready) in Bennington and St. Albans.
[O]n Oct 9, the U.S. debt clock showed the per taxpayer federal debt to be $152,900 and increasing. Each Vermont taxpayer’s share would be $166,900+ for the state and federal debt and that does not include local government debt.
That federal debt is $55,900 per citizen. This is every adult, child and baby who is a citizen. It is not being repaid. There are no cash available trust or emergency funds. There is no cash in the Social Security trust fund. It is loaned to the government in the form of intra-agency bonds which cannot be sold to the public. So when payments exceed income, the government will need to get cash, probably by raising federal taxes, changing Social Security, or more borrowing.
Isn’t $166,900 federal and state debt per taxpayer enough?
Isn’t $55,900 federal debt per citizen enough?
We will not be able to repay this so it will be passed on to the next generations.
We must set budgets that will not take away any more from our children and grandchildren. We have already forced them to pay for our overspending, as these debts will not be reduced in our lifetime. We must set and follow budgets (there has been one federal budget passed by the Senate in five years) that do not increase the debt. This will be extremely difficult since we are now engaged in expensive military actions.
I feel sorry for the younger families that also have huge debts for cars, mortgages and college loans, which will all become more expensive to repay due to the ripple effect of the government’s debt burden.
A small percentage of people pay more than 50 percent of the yearly federal tax income. Raising taxes will hurt the economy. We already have the highest corporation taxes, so raising them would increase prices and drive corporations overseas (we must be competitive).
Inflation is another way for federal governments to pay back their debts. They let the value of currency drop, so they can pay back with decreased purchasing power. This hurts everyone. Gasoline used to cost 25 cents per gallon, postage stamps three cents. Prices increase and savings loose value. Take-home pay increases, but it will not purchase as much as previously.
Government costs ultimately are borne by the people, through taxes or higher prices on all goods. Businesses must pass their costs on to the consumer. Large corporations, cities and other countries have gone bankrupt. How close is it to happening here? China is already our largest creditor. How much more can be borrowed before there will be no lenders or the interest rates will skyrocket and the governments will not be able to pay their debts when they come due (bankrupt).
We must stop dreaming that we can do everything by government and that the economy can survive. It all sounds nice that we can provide everything without taking away. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is not true.
I feel sorry for the younger families that also have huge debts for cars, mortgages and college loans, which will all become more expensive to repay due to the ripple effect of the government’s debt burden.
The rate of debt increase has been slowed, but it is nowhere near balanced. I personally will not be around to have these problems. I would not care if the reductions come from government operations, grants, social, diplomatic, economic, medical or military programs. It would be nice if we could get governments that work for the present taxpayers but not push huge debts to burden our children.
The upcoming election will give our citizens a chance to check the voting records of candidates and political parties to see which will keep our cities, state and country out of bankruptcy, which would have the worst effect on future taxpayers.
