January, 2011:

Last week, I noted that so much of the discussion on the deficit centered on getting it under control.

-- http://www.newsweek.com/2011/01/27/how-obama-s-speech-muddied-the-budget-debate.html

But focusing on "getting the deficit under control" misses the point entirely.

For the last three years, the annual deficit has been around $1.5 trillion each year. That means that in the last three years, we have added about four and a half trillion dollars to the total debt owed by our federal government -- that's you and me. "Unsustainable" does not begin to describe how atrocious that is. If we "get the deficit under control," by reducing it to a mere $500 billion a year, we will nonetheless add another five trillion dollars to the debt in the next decade. Let's take a look at what impact that will have on our society.

Suppose your annual income is $50,000. Some of that income must go to pay your taxes. Then there is the little matter of the mortgage... and food, electricity, gas to keep the car running, and a few other necessities. Now, suppose that, from that original $50,000 income, $7,500 was lopped right off the top -- for, oh, let's call it "Area 51" expenses. Aliens sneak in at midnight and rip it out of your hands. Poof; gone. That would put a crimp in your style, would it not? Now, suppose that I told you that a decade from now, Area 51 expenses would take $15,000 from your income?

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