Our financial future is in jeopardy. There is a fire raging and there are arsonists on the scene to put out the fire with gasoline. Our politicians are in a circular firing squad, busily shooting at each other. We risk fiscal and physical calamity if we do not address the obvious financial problems facing our country. We must stop pointing fingers as to who led us here and instead, fix the problem, not the blame.
The problem is our debt today and the future projections based on current policy. Our current interest-bearing debt is more than $39 trillion and is projected to keep growing. If you include unfunded obligations of Social Security and Medicare, the total is much higher. In about six years, Social Security and Medicare trust funds will be exhausted, requiring significant benefit cuts. It will likely get worse, but even today, our own government says in its annual financial reports that the fiscal path is unsustainable. They are not kidding. Someday, this will lead to a crisis and bankruptcy of the United States of America if we do not change course.
Many organizations and government officials see this and have scholars doing excellent work on the subject. They have been at it for decades. But we have not moved the needle to financial sanity in Washington. Quite the opposite, as our politicians pander to the public, giving out goodies paid for with borrowed money to get elected. We are failing financially and nothing is being done to correct this, as can be seen by the multi-trillion-dollar deficits that continue indefinitely as far as the eye can see.
The American people realize there is a problem, but do not sense how serious it is. This is not a routine budget debate or a passing concern. It is threatening our very existence as a nation. Yet we continue to stand by while politicians throw gasoline on the fire and expect that all is going to be okay. After all, it has never been a problem before, so what is different now?
Everything is different now. We have never seen financial data like this. The scale, the trajectory and the lack of political will to confront it combine into something genuinely dangerous. If we care about the future of our country, for ourselves and our posterity, we must wake up and face reality and do something about it. What will you say to your kids and grandkids when our world collapses and they look up and ask whether we understood economics?
Our Founders were statesmen, and they designed a unique constitutional republic that worked well for the first 150 years. We became the richest, most powerful nation in the world. It provided for a limited federal government, and all duties not specifically assigned to Washington belonged to the states or the people. There was a reason for this plan. They understood that too much power concentrated in the federal government would lead to excess, inefficiency and ultimately a loss of freedom. They were right.
Today, we have professional politicians who pander to the public so they can keep their jobs and continue to be reelected. This has led us to the fiscal precipice we face today. It can be fixed. It must be fixed if we are to survive as a nation. But the politicians will not fix the problem without public support and pressure.
So, it is up to us, the citizens of the United States, to listen, learn and understand the problem and then demand that our elected officials fix this mess. Citizenship carries responsibilities, not just rights. Ignoring this issue or assuming someone else will handle it is no longer an option.
That is why efforts to educate and inform the public matter, but awareness alone is not enough. Knowledge without action changes nothing. The hard truth is that no one is coming to fix this for us. Not politicians, not commissions, not future generations. If this is going to be solved, it will be because the American people demand it.
Take the time to understand what is happening, then make your voice heard. Speak up, speak out and insist that those elected to serve confront reality with honesty and courage. This is not about party or ideology. It is about whether we are willing to face facts and act before the damage becomes irreversible.
We hear constant bickering among the parties over who is to blame. It is time to quit pointing fingers and start doing what must be done. Fix the problem, not the blame!
Les Rubin is the Founder and President of Main Street Economics.