All of us should know that we'd soon be in deep trouble if we personally spent more year after year than we earned.
But "we, the people," let our elected public officials defy economic reality year after year. We let them tax us too much -- but also spend far too much more -- adding to our national debt.
Are you aware that the debt is $14.7 trillion -- and rising every day?
That's $47,000-plus per citizen!
That's $131,000-plus per taxpayer!
And we have to pay a big part of our taxes just to cover the interest on the huge and growing debt.
Last year, we ran $1.29 trillion in the red! This year, just through August, our deficit was $1.23 trillion. And many billions of dollars in debt will be added to that figure before the fiscal year ends this month.
President Barack Obama wants to raise our taxes -- not to reduce our debt, but to provide for more federal government spending!
Specifically, he wants to raise taxes to subsidize a $447 billion so-called "job creation" program. (He's generally avoiding the now-disfavored word "stimulus.") Obama wants to limit the ability to itemize charitable deductions on income tax returns. He also wants to raise a range of other taxes to pay for his new spending -- all while precious little is being done to reduce the federal debt.
We are simply ignoring the problems of our over-spending, our over-borrowing and our over-taxing. That is making the economic crisis worse, adversely affecting all of us.
There is no easy, or immediate, solution. But when we are in a deep hole -- and it is caving in on us -- wouldn't it be wise to quit digging deeper?