The federal government’s near shutdown is a great opportunity to reflect on the basic tenants of our political system.

Speaking in sweeping generalizations, the Democrats would rather see more services and higher taxes, while the Republicans would rather see fewer services and lower taxes. The American public, of course, wants more services and lower taxes. Sometimes agreement is so hard to achieve that the politicians stop trying and shut down the government. Thankfully, this outcome was avoided this time. The eventual compromise between the two parties has resulted in spending that is higher than revenue from taxes in all but four of the last 41 years. Each year the gap is bridged by borrowing, and each year the amount the United States owes increases.

How much does the U.S. government owe today? $100 billion? $500 billion? Try $14.3 trillion! Here is how that looks: $14,300,000,000,000. To put it in perspective, if a stack of hundred-dollar bills worth 1 million dollars is 43 inches tall, a stack of hundreds equaling our national debt is 9,704.86 miles high.

Even scarier is the fact that this stack is projected to double in height in just 10 years if the government continues to spend and tax as it does now. Unfortunately, with more baby boomers retiring and health care costs rising, spending on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, three of the biggest federal programs, will increase. So the stack is heading for the moon.

The problem with borrowing is that the money, trillions and trillions of dollars in our case, has to be paid back at some point. If lenders don’t think it will get paid back, they stop lending. And this would be what Leonard Burman, a professor and former executive director of the Tax Policy Center, calls ‘catastrophic budget failure.’ The United States would not have enough money to pay its army, its postal service or any federal employees. The only solution would be to print more money. Inflation would skyrocket. The economy would collapse.

So how do we avoid this doomsday scenario?

First of all, start caring! Not knowing what your country owes is like going on lavish shopping sprees and never checking your credit card balance. It’s just not smart. The solution will require higher taxes and lower spending, so whether you are a Republican or Democrat, you are not going to like it, but it’s much better than the alternative. We have to start voting for politicians who are ready to address the rising debt by spending less than we tax and taxing more than we spend. We have to demand this of our politicians. Sounds crazy, I know. But what’s really crazy is spending 14 cents of every dollar we pay in taxes just on interest. We will be doing that in 2021.

Policy Students for Fiscal Sustainability, a graduate student group at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, is holding a conference to better inform students and community members of this issue and to discuss a range of solutions. Experts from different sides of the political spectrum will share their insights on Friday. On Saturday, a panel featuring Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner and New York State Assemblyman Bill Magnarelli will discuss fiscal challenges on the local and state level. Both events are free and open to the public. More information is available at www.ourbudgets.org.

Roman Yavich

Graduate Student in Public Administration

 

Published on April 10, 2011 at 12:00 pm