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Wednesday, November 11, 2026Nov 11

Opinion: Time to fix America’s cracked foundation

File photo/Kenny Holston/The New York Times / The Treasury Department is seen in Washington on Jan. 20, 2023. Americas federal budget deficit effectively doubled in the 2023 fiscal year as slumping tax receipts, rising interest rates and persistent demand for expiring pandemic relief benefits strained the nations finances.
File photo/Kenny Holston/The New York Times / The Treasury Department is seen in Washington on Jan. 20, 2023. Americas federal budget deficit effectively doubled in the 2023 fiscal year as slumping tax receipts, rising interest rates and persistent demand for expiring pandemic relief benefits strained the nations finances. File photo/Kenny Holston/The New York Times / The Treasury Department is seen in Washington on Jan. 20, 2023. Americas federal budget deficit effectively doubled in the 2023 fiscal year as slumping tax receipts, rising interest rates and persistent demand for expiring pandemic relief benefits strained the nations finances.

Some popular shows on PBS and cable TV are about renovating old houses — taking dilapidated, out-of-fashion and dreary houses and turning them into modern, functioning, and attractive places in which to live.

Renovation is precisely what is needed in our country whose national debt, open borders and as we’ve seen in recent weeks our university and public education system are in dire need of repair, even renovation. Failing to renovate an old house puts the owner at risk of broken electrical wires and water pipes, even collapsing roofs and walls. Failing to renovate a government in need of more than a paint job to cover up its many flaws can lead to dysfunction (what we have now) and ultimate collapse, which will be our future if we don’t act soon.

Democrats are incapable of renovation because they have helped contribute to the problems. Republicans, who can’t function as a party as shown by their deplorable behavior in failing to name a speaker of the House, also lack the will to make necessary repairs.

The unsustainable $33 trillion debt continues to grow. As noted by Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget: “We are a nation addicted to debt. The deficit totaled $1.7 trillion in Fiscal Year 2023, but we actually borrowed $2 trillion when you fix the accounting around President Biden’s reversed student debt cancellation plan. That means borrowing doubled from last year. With the economy growing and unemployment near record lows, this was the time to instill fiscal responsibility and reduce our deficits.”

We will borrow even more and pay more interest if money to Ukraine and Israel gets through Congress.