We can’t ignore nation’s growing debt

Christine Carroll, Boulder City

Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2008 | 2:03 a.m.

The federal government is in debt for trillions of dollars and going deeper every day. Someone (a Republican, of course) once tried to convince me that because the national debt is “not that bad as a percentage of gross national product” we don’t have to worry.

That’s pretty much like saying it doesn’t matter how high my mortgage payments are in relation to my income, as long as the loan-to-value ratio is OK. The problem is, we don’t pay the national debt with GNP any more than I can pay my mortgage with the equity in my home.

Here’s a little Economics 101: Sooner or later the debt has to be paid. The longer we wait to pay it, the more it costs.

The national debt will have to be paid by taxpayers. Therefore, the national debt is simply a tax, and no one is telling you who will pay it, when it will be paid, or how much it will end up costing.

Any candidate who says the government can keep spending the way it has and still cut taxes is lying. Do we have the right to pass this huge tax burden on to our children and grandchildren because we were too selfish to pay our own way?