It plays second fiddle to media stories which focus on Newt Gingrich's confessing to an extra-marital affair while pursuing the impeachment of President Bill Clinton and plays third or fourth fiddle to the very unsurprising news that the Bush Justice Department fired eight federal prosecutors for political reasons.
Those stories have immediate 'news' appeal and are easier to tell. The national debt is harder to explain and has a longer, more difficult (but more troubling) trajectory.
Since Bush came into office in January 2001, the national debt has risen 45 percent. This administration has overseen the addition of over $3 trillion dollars to the national debt, bringing that total to $8.8 trillion. This irresponsible spending came at a time when the Congressional Budgeting Office projected surpluses of $2.5 trillion.
And our fiscal irresponsibility is not just dumb, it's dangerous. We rely on foreign banks to finance over 40 percent of this debt, with most of that debt held by Asian banks. This just creates a bigger trade deficit with those countries. In 1992 the United States had no trade deficit with China. Now we have a $200 billion trade deficit.
The U.S. trade deficit is now greater than our defense budget-itself no small sum. Americans have been living beyond their means for longer than the Bush presidency, but this administration has done nothing to curb excess spending.
This administration has exacerbated the trend while ignoring the consequences that have leading economists worried about market 'corrections,' inflations, and the decline in the value of the dollar abroad (and that impact on the trade deficit).
National debt is assuredly not a sexy story. It doesn't have the legs of political intrigue or celebrities in and out of rehab. In our instant everything, sound-byte society, consumer patience for complicated stories requiring thoughtful evaluation is nil.
Our failure to pay attention to this may come back to haunt us-and it may happen sooner versus later.
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