When the last Clinton left the Presidency on Jan. 20, 2001, he did so with a Federal government budget surplus in place! This was wiped out by his successor---the second President Bush---to pay for our current series of overseas wars. When that money ran out, he simply borrowed more to pay for them from our greatest ideological foe on the planet, Communist China! I would not
have done that as President.
This, too, was obliterated by our current big spender in the Oval Office, whose national debt exceeds all that has gone before. I have therefore concluded that all elected officials serving at the national level today from the President on down will continue in this vein for the very simple reason that no one on the planet will or can hold them accountable.
Thus, they will simply print more and more paper money, and continue spending, in both major parties. I am opposed to this as well, as not paying down the national debt. One positive aspect of this is, however, is that our number one creditor---the Red People’s Republic of China---is not going to call in those debts by going to war with us, because---as its number one economic
customer---the Red Chinese simply need the United States as a buyer more than they do our paying our debts: a very strange situation, indeed!
One hidden, dangerous, and cancer-like growing additional debt as a threat to our economy is that of citizen credit card overspending. To rectify this, I propose to introduce and sponsor in the next session of the United States Senate the Credit Card Forgiveness Act of 2017, whereby all credit card debt will be forgiven entirely on a one-time only basis.
Those thus relieved of this financial burden will, in turn, never be allowed to charge anything ever again. In return, the banks that issue these credit cards will be given tax credits to offset their losses in revenue. No plan is perfect, but we must start somewhere to roll back the tide of personal debt as well as of national, collective debt.
Another future debt that is looming on our financial horizon that no one is yet talking about but me, here and now, is this: For the past four decades plus, the US had had the All Volunteer Military, or AVM. According to the 2013 study, The Modern American Military, by 2035, it is projected that the entire US Defense Budget will be eaten up by the health care costs alone of
the current AVM!
If accurate, that is a truly staggering, sobering thought, to say the least! I am just now beginning to grapple with this future threat to our well being, but a first step it is, nonetheless.
These are but some of the thorny problems with which we as a nation will have to face as we continue to confront, halt, and then reverse our on-going cycles of national debt increases and endless wars over the last 15 years under two separate regimes, one each of the two major parties.
We can do it! As we do so, however, we must also prepare to fight our next war to defeat ISIS/ISIL, hopefully with allies, but alone if necessary, to safeguard the already under attack American homeland. That, too, we can do, as our defense should never rest on whether or not we have allies to protect us!
We protect ourselves in the final analysis. If not, we fall. It’s just that simple. Obviously, the above is not the last word on debt and wars that help cause it, but it is a start! I will continue my research.
Thank you for your kind consideration!
Blaine Taylor
Read past articles by Blaine Taylor