America's Debt Problem

In an article written at the end of last month by Republican John Boehner, he talks about how Washington is handling America's rapidly growing debt. He says that the trillion dollar stimulus that was supposed to create jobs just produced examples of wasteful spending by the government. He expresses his opinion;

The federal government is currently operating on a budget that doubles the national debt in the next five years and triples it in the next 10.

By the time the next decade is out, interest payments to sustain the national debt will exceed $700 billion. That is more than what our nation will spend this year on education, energy, homeland security and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – combined.

Out-of-control spending has been a problem for years in Washington, but instead of hitting the brakes on spending as they promised they would, President Obama and Washington Democrats have stepped on the accelerator. Now, instead of working with Republicans to impose real fiscal discipline, Washington Democrats believe the answer is more of the same unsustainable spending and borrowing. Our kids and grandkids should not have to foot the bill because out-of-touch Washington Democrats will not make the same tough choices required of every family struggling to make ends meet.

I believe that his analysis of the situation is a little biased, but he is right in a couple ways. The government will not be able to continue pumping as much money as they are currently into the economy, although it can be argued that it is completely necessary. The fact that he brought up about the future interest payments is alarming and shows that the government is going to have to find a way to cut down the debt or keep it from continuing to grow in the next few years.