What The Government Bankrupt!
Thomas Jefferson once said, "I place economy among the first and most important virtues, and public debt as the greatest of dangers. To preserve our independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt" (Crushing Public Debt). In 1870, the National Debt was $2.4 billion, decreasing to $1.1 billion by 1910, and rising to $24 billion during World War II (National Debt Clock FAQ, Feb. 11,1996). In 1996 this debt was reaching $5 trillion, at that time a law, which limited the National Debt to under $5 trillion, kicked in until Congress had time to amend this law (NDC FAQ, Feb. 2, 1996). When doing so, the limit was raised to $5.95 trillion which has allowed our National Debt to grow to the substantial sum of $5,658,320,634,867.01 (National Debt Clock, Oct. 6, 1999), and keeps increasing at a rate of $3517 per second (The Concord Coalition, Trumpets). The graph above tracks the debt to citizen rate from 1929 to the present. It also shows the tremendous increase in that rate since the 1980's. If this debt were to be equally divided between all citizens in the United States each man, woman, and child would owe $20,870. I am sure that my bank account will be depleted enough paying my own bills and does not need th
Some existing plans to reduce the National Debt are to cut federal spending, lower taxes and the latest of plans is to buy back long-term debt. All of these options have merit, but used separately these plans would have the same effect as putting a Band-Aid on a gunshot wound only slowing the inevitable. For one reason or another these methods will not deal with the problem of reducing the National Debt effectively. There is currently a "Balanced Budget Act," actually all it has done is provide a loophole for Congress to jump through. Instead of a balanced budget, it would be more helpful to pass laws that would limit spending to a specified percentage of expected tax revenues. The excess revenues would then be used to pay down the debt or used in the bond buyback program. I propose a constitutional amendment for the reduction of the National Debt. The economy in the US today has reached an all-time high and with this good market comes more money in tax revenues. Congress has chose to use some of this new found cash to reduce the National Debt by buying back some of the debt. Along with the buyback program is the decrease of new bond sales from three times a year to two times, February and August (Crutsinger). Even though bond buyback and reduced new sales may help to reduce the debt, it will not be enough to eliminate it. Not only will this amendment take care of the inevitable retirement crunch, but will help to further fund the education of millions of college students. Student Financial Assistance Programs provide $40 billion a year (70% of all aid) in grants, loans, and work study assistance (Federal Student Financial Aid). Like many other students, I could not afford college without these programs. Financial Aid not only provides a means for college, but also helps to keep this nation strong. By providing the opportunity for an education, the workforce is replenished with qualified individuals who become a productive member of society
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Approximate Word count = 1331
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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