Almost every day, students receive ads in the mail for new credit cards and increased limits on their current ones, encouraging them to plunge further into the debt college students typically have. For those Aggies who have resisted the temptation, applaud yourself. It’s more than the federal government has done.
On Nov. 18, Congress voted to increase the debt limit by $800 billion, for a total of $818 trillion. President Bush signed the legislation the next day, in what was the third such increase since Bush took office, according to the McAllen Monitor.
Special factors have to be taken into account when you think of this. Most notably, the War on Terror and the invasion of two countries requires increased spending compared to a non-war period. However, even that doesn’t excuse such a financially irresponsible act. The increase should have never taken place.
Members of Congress cited the war in Iraq and increased homeland security costs for the growing deficit. “We have absolutely had a very difficult last several years,” Rep. Melissa Hart, R-Pa. told the Daily Herald.
Yes, war is a strain on the nation’s finances. However, a fact that seems to escape in bureaucracies is that when the bills rise, the solution isn’t to raises taxes or tuition, or increase debt, but to cut spending. Perhaps it is the quick-fix in people’s mind, but it’s irresponsible.
According to the Associated Press, the new federal borrowing cap is $8.18 trillion, which is 70 percent the size of the entire U.S. economy, and more than $2.4 trillion higher than the debt Bush inherited upon taking office in 2001.
Considering such staggering statistics, why isn’t anyone slamming their hands on the table and demanding the government’s credit cards be taken away? That’s what any responsible adult would do.
Instead, the government rushed to pass a new spending bill shortly after the debt limit increase, filled with pork-barrel projects. Anyone interested in seeing what your tax dollars will pay for this April?
Among them is $1 million grant for the “Wild American Shrimp Initiative,” $350,000 for Ohio’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, $50,000 “to control Missouri’s wild-hog problem,” $900,000 for the “Rouge River National Wet Weather Demonstration Project” and $1 million “for dealing with brown tree snakes in Guam,” according to USA Today. Though these are only highlights of the inexcusable spending bill, so-called “special projects” total $22 billion.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. rightly questioned the legitimacy of some of these projects. “Are American shrimp unruly and lacking initiative? Why does the U.S. taxpayer need to pay for this ‘no shrimp left behind’ act?” McCain asked. His humorous tone is appropriate considering the ridiculousness of the government’s financial logic. When one finds himself in the red, he simply doesn’t increase spending. It’s that simple.
“Four years ago, we had the largest surplus in history” Congressman Bart Stupak, D-Mich. told Michigan’s Daily Press. “Today, we have the largest deficit in history and our national debt is over $7 trillion. Congress and the administration must reign in these reckless tax cuts or it will saddle our children and grandchildren with trillions of dollars of debt that will hinder their ability to invest in their own security and success.”
As American writer Gore Vidal noted, “The genius of our ruling class is that it has kept a majority of the people from ever questioning the inequity of a system where most people drudge along, paying heavy taxes for which they get nothing in return.” As rational individuals, we must not be ignorant to these financial mistakes and demand sanity of our government.