According to National Republican Senatorial Committee, "... over the course of only seven weeks of the current Congressional session, Senate Democrats have passed more spending than the previous Administration spent on Iraq, Afghanistan, and Katrina recovery combined. "
Yikes! A long time ago I was an Economics major, so I probably only remember enough to be dangerous, but this level of spending really concerns me.
When some people see a problem in America they often assert that "the government ought to do something." One of the problems with government spending is that government does not have any money of it's own.
There are basically three ways the government gets money:
- It taxes its citizens
- It borrow money (through mechanisms like government bonds)
- It prints money
Here's the problem with each of these approaches:
- Taxes take money out of the "private sector" which needs money to produce and grow.
- Borrowed money has to be paid back eventually, at least the interest on the debt.
- Printing money to pay for government programs leads to inflation ("the cruelest tax of all"), which is just what happened during the Carter administration when it tried this approach.
I'm not trying to debate whether the government should spend money, I'm just saying that this level of spending comes with some very significant risks. If you're thinking that we'll pay for all this by increasing income taxes on the "wealthy," keep in in mind that there are NOT enough of them to cover the costs. Most of the burden, then, will have to be shouldered by the bulk of American taxpayers.
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