I am not in the habit of quoting leftist Noam Chomsky, but this line seems relevant when one considers our growing national debt: “When you trap people in a system of debt, they can’t afford the time to think.”
Perhaps now is not the time in the middle of a pandemic, job losses and threats of even higher unemployment, to mention the national debt. Or perhaps it is.
One of the common characteristics of the fall of past empires and superpowers is massive national debt. Ours is currently at $26.5 trillion and growing by the second. Americans should regularly consult the real-time debt clock and ponder the future. The interest on the debt, which also grows daily, is higher than the nation’s gross domestic product for the first time since World War II.
With more borrowed money going out the Treasury Department’s door because of the pandemic and Joe Biden promising to spend additional trillions should he become president, the debt will become an even greater economic albatross.
One year ago when the debt was “only” $22 trillion, I wrote a column about what the Founders thought of debt. Their words are worth repeating: