The National Debt: $16 Trillion Dollars Of Moral, Cultural And Political Decay

Wow! We'll soon cross Sixteen Trillion Dollars in Federal Debt! S-i-x-t-e-e-n T-r-i-l-l-i-o-n D-o-l-l-a-r-s. That's a lot of vote buying even for Washington. Is this ruin? Have we indentured our children into servitude? Solomon warned borrowers will be slaves to their lenders. Add $120 plus trillion in unfunded forthcoming liabilities and, well, we're doomed.

Yet, as significant as this looks, and sixteen trillion of anything cannot be insignificant, the economic repercussions are the least of America's worries. We still finance this cheaply. Rates on Treasuries remain low. Moreover, America endures as the world's preeminent economic engine.

Obviously, debt weighs heavily on markets, especially the spending which spurred annual deficits exceeding $1 trillion. Government intervention smothers more gainful private pursuits. As Washington nonchalantly politicizes capital the economy suffers. Private actors would invest far better than politicians bribing the electorate.

As resources filter through the state's machinations, liberty and prosperity are sacrificed to political ends. Massive debt is economically bad, really bad, and perhaps even hopeless; but much, much worse is what this reveals about America's moral, cultural and political decay.

Our present debt debacle frequents comparison to World War II. We borrowed then to save Western Civilization. That war would end in triumph. Today, we spend subsidizing civilization's demise with no victory evident and no end apparent. These debts and the moral morass they sponsor will worsen. Acceleration is baked in as baby boomers only begin to retire and taxpayer supported illegitimacy spawns multi-generational dependency.

Washington's principal endeavor is rewarding recipients to shun work. Entitlements and relief exceed seventy percent of expenditures; social services then cushion the fallout. Increasingly generous handouts and steeply progressive taxes make entitlement reform treacherous. Politicians spout lip service to frugality, but are so beholden to continuing this largesse the Senate cannot even pass a budget.

We push almost $1 trillion uphill in means-tested poverty programs, devoid of accountability. Welfare imprisons vulnerable lives to the public dole. To what avail? If we spent $2 trillion, poverty would double. The Welfare State's only winners are politicians so base as to abuse the poor as props.

Per the Census Bureau, poverty rates for married couples were 6.2 percent, but 27.3 percent for single-parent families.Children reared without fathers are more likely to engage in promiscuity, dabble in drugs, commit crime or quit school. Yet the Safety Net's overriding purpose is underwriting single-parenthood.

Subsidizing prodigality assists neither those souls mired in dependency; nor the larger community. Government taxes productivity to purchase un-productivity; while economic foolishness, a moral and cultural disaster. Safety nets encourage irresponsibility as others cover the costs. The Nanny State inculcates childlike dependence.

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