We are reminded statistically. Thirty-nine trillion dollars in debt. Interest rates on debt 7.2% higher in 2026. Our government paid out $425 billion in 2025 to service the debt—debt service costs more than defense. In 1970, just 5% of our national debt was owned by foreign governments and investors; today, 32%.
Candidate and officeholders of both parties promise action. They pretend—dynamic inaction. Politics, after all, is directed by operatives; they supply the lyrics, and what are called talking points ultimately lie. The lies become background music. Honesty: zero percent. Reality: good intentions yield to “what are you going to do for me today?”.
Going back, the Founders would be aghast. The Founders are dead; we need new founders. Ones deserving of a capital F.
Moving forward, our children and grandchildren should be frightened and demanding. Do we care?
Republicans are complicit. Most raise their voices, but the chorus line is always: taxes are evil. Their cantata: the more we cut them the more prosperous we will be. Plus or minus thresholds are missing—sour notes follow.
The Democrats? Well, they are happy to raise taxes but certainly not to retire the debt. They are allergic to displacing old programs while wanting to fund new ones to achieve what the old ones failed to accomplish.
Independents? They are powerless. I say this as an Independent. The pollsters tell us we are the power; don’t believe it. We arrive after the morality play has been cast.
Will Rogers once quipped that “common sense is not common”. Believe it.
So what does common sense tell us about being $39 Trillion dollars in debt? These are my headlines. I invite yours.
Common sense tells me that our debt threatens the entitlement programs. Assures that interest rates will go up. Assures intergenerational discrimination as we borrow for ourselves and pass the debt on to our children and grandchildren.
Recall that much of our personal wealth was built by timely borrowing to buy a house and then paying it off monthly. America doesn’t pay off its debt—it increases and services it.
Finally, common sense recalls the bank robber Willie Sutton who, when asked why he robbed banks, is said to have said “because that is where the money is.”
Common sense or simple arithmetic tells me the money is not in what we awkwardly label the lower and middle classes. They pay plenty in sales and property taxes already.
The money to pay down the debt will come from government expenditures being reduced and the wealthy (we have plenty of them). There are all sorts of plans on how a mix of approaches can make progress. Negotiate, reach a bi-partisan conclusion. Earn your money.
And, let me throw the gambling and recreational drug industries into the mix. They are enjoying rapid growth—too bad. If left up to me, I would raise taxes on those industries and participants and put the resulting revenue into a lock box that can be only used to pay down the debt.
America has been protected by capitalism and scale economics, which have made our currency the most liquid in the world. This is good until it isn’t. We have a false sense of security. Our debt dependence has become toxic, and its toxicity increases day by day.
0 Comments