(David Mansdoerfer) – Is it just me, or has Generation X & Y been left to clean up the mess left over from the Baby Boomer Generation? Today, by some estimates, the United States has $100 trillion in unfunded liabilities – not to mention the current $14 trillion we are currently in debt. To personalize this number, a child born on U.S. soil would need to pay nearly $371,000 to cover their share of the current debt and unfunded liabilities that the United States currently owes – not to mention the taxes they will also be required to pay as they go throughout life!
Obviously, if we were to substantially raise taxes, even if those taxes were targeted at really wealthy people who make more than $250,000, it would be impossible to tax our way out of this debt.
Now, it is extremely important to note that both political parties have contributed to this mess. Both sides have consistently over-promised and relied on the economy to grow at a steady pace to fund various entitlement programs. The problem with this, though, is that all economies are bound to have some form of recession sooner or later.
Tax receipts, as we all know, go down when people lose their jobs and companies downsize. Politicians over the last six decades have bet against this notion, however, and continue to spend every dollar that comes into their sight.
Even Clinton’s ‘balanced’ budgets borrowed heavily against social security.
In President Obama’s 2011 State of the Union, he stated that we need to ‘win the future.’ Yet, once again, in a statement meant to bring hope to the millions of Americans that are nervous about the debt the United States currently faces, we are left with bad political rhetoric.
What is even more frustrating about this, is that U.S. citizens are letting their government try and ‘win the future’ for them. I, for one, don’t want the government trying to win anything for me.
Instead of pandering to those who believe that it is unfair to cut federal spending such as Medicare or Social Security because people rely on that money, how about complaining that these programs won’t be around when Generation X & Y are looking to claim their benefits.
With all this nonsense going around about shared sacrifice (which is intended to make the middle class/rich feel guilty that they are still making money), how about the Baby Boomer Generation sacrificing some of the benefits that they are receiving so that their kids and grandkids don’t have to face a bankrupt system?
In order to ‘win the future’, we need to stop this nonsense of believing we can tax our way out of our current problems. Instead, we should look to a system that is sustainable in the long-run. Even if that means the Baby Boomers have to share in the sacrifice.
(Mr. Mansdoerfer is the Director of Federal Affairs for Citizen Outreach)
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