I Owe What?
I just learned that my share of the national debt is nearly $100,000. Wait a minute. It could be more because a lot of those infants will never come up with their share. The total debt is $33 trillion. F***ing crazy! I don’t remember agreeing to invade Iraq or building a bridge to nowhere in Alaska or Reagan’s star-wars spending spree. I mean, I’m a senior. Where am I supposed to get the money? Did all this happen when I was napping?
There is that interesting aphorism…’If you aren’t liberal when you’re young, you have no heart. If you aren’t conservative when you’re old, you have no brain.’
The saying mirrored who we were politically. Democrats were seen as younger, more liberal, perhaps more naïve, advancing social programs, often despite their cost. It was the party of minorities, the lower and middle class…the blue-collar backbone of the country. It was the party of Roosevelt. He’d gotten us through depression and the war. Republicans were seen as old white men, the oligarchs, those who wanted to maintain the status quo, keeping their taxes low, and immigrants out. They wanted balanced budgets…the Democrats were profligate.
There were a few conservative Democrats and liberal Republicans…think Harry Byrd and Earl Warren. But the enactment of Civil Rights laws in the 1950’s and 1960’s changed everything. Nine southern states bolted the Democratic party and set up a 3rd party, the Dixiecrats. They were conservative Democrats opposed to all forms of integration. The party didn’t last but their philosophy found kinship with the Republican party and the southern bloc the Democrats had always counted on had now turned red. And with it, what the political parties represented became convoluted.
Oh, the Democrats were still the party of liberal causes and minorities. The Republicans were still the party of wealth, low taxes, and America first. What changed were those other issues…women’s rights, abortion, America’s place in the world, and balanced budgets. It was the latter two that exploded the debt.
When World War II ended, America was the only country standing. We were the world’s policeman, trying to plant democracy where it had no roots. In Europe we formed NATO as a bloc against the Soviets. In Asia we formed SEATO. We were everywhere. But that testosterone led us into Cuba, Korea, Vietnam, Libya, Kuwait, Iraq, and Syria. Balanced budgets no longer mattered. The military, always needing something newer and more expensive, was sacrosanct.
The Reagan presidency, lauded by Republicans, was an economic disaster. The annual deficit tripled, and the gross national debt increased from $995 billion to $2.9 trillion.
George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton were more fiscally responsible but George W. Bush, with his hawk-ish supporters, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, had a thirst for military intervention even as the economy was teetering on the brink of a recession. The deficit was now exceeding $400 billion each year even as he proposed an increase for the Pentagon to $515 billion and another $70 billion for the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Bush admitted he would need additional money to continue his Middle East ‘incursions.’
Obama and Trump also increased the deficit dramatically. Obama had to deal with the housing collapse of 2008 while enacting huge stimulus packages. Trump had to deal with the Covid virus while enacting huge tax cuts that benefitted the wealthy and increasing Obama’s defense budget by more than 20%.
Does anyone care? We have hocked the next generation’s future. Can you hear me now? What does all this mean? I still don’t have my share of the deficit to pay, and I’ll bet those infants won’t come up with their share either.