People of a certain age will recall a lyric from the Tennessee Ernie Ford song “Sixteen Tons”: “Another day older and deeper in debt.”
I thought of that song as Secretary of War Pete Hegseth asked Congress to approve a $1.5 trillion budget for fiscal year 2027 to put the military on what he called a “wartime footing.” Hegseth says the Pentagon needs the money for more drones, munitions and modernized systems. Though President Trump has denied it, bragging that we have the strongest military in the world, it would appear that the Iran conflict has significantly depleted U.S military resources.
Whatever Congress decides to do in response to Hegseth’s request will be done with borrowed money, because we don’t have enough resources — and haven’t for some time — to pay for the unrestrained spending Congress loves to do. Notice there were no pledges of cost reductions in Hegseth’s request. There never are when it comes to government.
If you want to be shocked, assuming we are shocked about much these days, visit usdebtclock.org and watch the numbers rise faster than a space rocket. It’s $39 trillion and counting, with the average cost to each American family of $114,130, according to the Peter G. Peterson Foundation. No nation in history has ever been able to shoulder such debt and survive. The politicians don’t seem to care as long as they can dole out money to keep themselves in office.
I have written about the debt before, but it bears repeating until Congress takes action. What frustrates those who are paying attention to the debt is that it is not an unsolvable problem. It’s been fixed before, even within recent memory for many people.