It only took hours to work out the bailouts of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - a deal that increased the national debt by $5 trillion. You, me and our unborn children now owe the world's lenders our own little piece of a $14 trillion debt, give or take a couple hundred billion. Here is the kicker: We didn't borrow a dime.
Prior to our parents' stewardship of this nation, it was considered both unconstitutional and un-American to run up the national debt. After all, the generation that spends the money is not the generation that will pay it back. It is the children and the grandchildren who pay back the debt. How could a nation commit taxation without representation more egregious than taxing people who cannot even take the breath necessary to revolt against unfair government?
Debt has always been managed somehow. The nation took out loans and spent more money than it made to pay for wars, get us out of economic collapse by funding public works projects and give people jobs. When the economy was functioning, the leaders of our government always had the foresight, self-control and responsibility to begin paying that debt off and keep it manageable.
Then our parents took control. It is absolutely remarkable that our generation was dubbed the "Me Generation" by our predecessors. While in charge, they have spent an accumulated $13 trillion of our money and our children's money. As a whole, could a generation be more self-obsessed and greedy than to raid the future wages of their children and grandchildren? Could anyone else possibly be more deserving of the title the "Me Generation"?
Don't let them tell you that the money was spent fighting the Soviets. It wasn't. The national debt ballooned under three presidents: Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush. Military Intelligence and the CIA knew the Soviet Union was collapsing long before our national budget began skyrocketing. In the early 1980s, the Soviet army could not afford the tires for army trucks, so they moved the trucks around on forklifts to trick U.S. spy satellites. American spies on the ground knew and told their superiors. Then our government went ahead with the Star Wars program. The Truman Doctrine of merely containing, not confronting, the Soviet Union was founded on Communism's inherent economic flaws, which made it an unstable and inevitably doomed venture from the start. In 1950, we knew the Soviet Union would collapse as long as we just left it alone.
Our parents have spent about $13 trillion of our money, with absolutely no rational basis or right to do so. We are the ones who will pay off this debt - not our parents. They will be dead long before they are asked to pony up a penny. Forget tax cuts. Our taxes will be at 40 percent or higher. After interest, our parents have spent about $125,000 of our money and our children's money. If our generation does the right thing and finds a way to pay off the national debt so that our children do not have that burden, make the number $250,000.
So do not ever let your parents, or anyone else, tell you that you aren't owed anything. You are owed about $250,000 of something. Frankly, I'd like my money now. I could go for a steak, and I should probably start planning for my kids' college education. With the way tuition rates are going up, I'm going to need every last dime. Remember kids, you can't put a price on education - well, maybe $40,000 over four years.
Dolla' dolla' bill y'all.
Wes Hunt is a history senior.
