October 7, 2019

Washington Needs to Ensure the Prosperity of Future Generations

The growth policies of President Trump have brought the United States economy back to life. Lower taxes and fewer regulations have put more money in the pockets of Americans, particularly lower wage workers.

The growth policies of President Trump have brought the United States economy back to life. Lower taxes and fewer regulations have put more money in the pockets of Americans, particularly lower wage workers. The unemployment rate is at the lowest level in decades. Lawmakers should capitalize on this period of strong growth. It is an opportunity to rein in endless spending and to pay down the national debt. Washington sadly continues to swipe the national credit card and stick future generations with the bill. The gross national debt is at an unsustainable $22 trillion.

Congress has passed the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2019, the fourth in a series of “deals” to raise spending caps imposed by the Budget Control Act of 2011. This latest deal effectively kills that old law, which was put in place to curb spending growth. This agreement will increase spending by $324 billion in the next two years and could add nearly $2 trillion in new debt over the next decade. It also suspends the debt limit, allowing the federal government unfettered borrowing power for the next two years.

Where is all the new spending going? Just over half of the $324 billion increase provides critical funding for defense. That is essential as threats rise across the globe. However, much of the remaining increase would go toward programs that are not priorities. Many of these programs should be left to state and local governments or to the private sector so that Congress can focus taxpayer dollars on truly national needs more in line with the constitutionally mandated duties of the federal government.

But the new additional discretionary spending approved by this bill is not what is ultimately driving our debt problem. More than 70 percent of federal spending growth is being driven by Social Security and health care programs like Medicaid. Their spending has been on autopilot, with regular increases built into the law instead of debated by lawmakers. It is so bad that in only 22 years, all this entitlement spending and interest payments on the debt alone are projected to consume all revenue, down to the very last taxpayer dime, that the federal government brings in.

What is the upshot of this important opportunity to make long overdue spending reforms? Looking to the next generation, a child born today will be burdened with a nearly $50,000 share of the public debt. By the time this child reaches age 30, that share is projected to hit almost $135,000. That is not a brighter future for our children. It is a future of increasing taxes on individuals and on businesses to pay down the national debt.

Those higher taxes will leave consumers with less money to purchase everything from food and homes to cars and computers. Businesses will take a double hit, first from higher taxes, then from shrinking consumer demand for goods and services. As the economy contracts, that will necessarily result in layoffs and lower wages, which will reduce demand for goods and services even further. Shrinking businesses, less people working, and lower wages mean tax revenues for the government will wither, but our obligation to pay off the debt will certainly not be over.

Faced with dwindling tax revenues, the government will likely be forced to drastically cut public services, and Americans will wonder why they are turning over such a large portion of their incomes to the government but getting so few services in return. The downward spiral could continue for generations to come. All this could happen because politicians failed to muster the courage to stick to a budget and stop their out of control spending, and because not enough Americans demanded they do so.

President Trump tweeted that “there is always plenty of time to cut” and presented three budget proposals that would fundamentally reshape the role of the federal government and significantly cut down the national debt. But the latest deal undermines many of those priorities. The longer Congress waits to implement reforms, and the longer we go on tolerating business as usual, the higher the price will be for those who follow us. We owe it to our children and grandchildren to demand bolder responsible leadership from those we entrust to protect both our future and theirs.


Republished from The Heritage Foundation.

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.