Spending at all levels of government far exceeds our tax base and is therefore unsustainable.  Regular Americans understand that you can’t spend more than you have, but the Government has not gotten the message.

Government has turned to borrowing to cover the shortfall.  Increased borrowing puts a long term drag on economic growth.  Increased taxes also drag down the economy, particularly during a recessionary period.   The level of debt that government is amassing to pay for its spending is very dangerous.  We are fast approaching a tilting point! The biggest concerns are for our children and for those that are retired on fixed incomes.

The debt load we are accumulating is so great that unless things change, we will pass crippling debt to the next generation.  What does that mean?  It translates to a lower standard of living for our children.  When the economy stays slow for a long period of time, our children start work later and at a lower salary rate than they should.  That reduces their lifetime earnings, lowering their standard of living.  Higher debt loads increase interest rates and inflation, taking the fewer dollars earned by our children and making each of them worth less, further contributing to a lower standard of living.  We cannot allow this to happen.  We must not let irresponsible government rob our children of their future.

A second group that is very vulnerable is our retirees on fixed incomes.  The impact of increased interest rates and high inflation rates can reduce their standard of living.  A retiree with a fixed income of $50,000 can have their real income cut to $35,000 in three years if we experience double digit inflation.

These are the unintended consequences of long term unsustainable spending by our government. They are totally unacceptable!  We don’t want our children to be the first generation whose standard of living deteriorated instead of improved.  And if we put our fixed income retirees in jeopardy we will have created a bigger problem then we can fix.

Solution

• We know what a healthy economy looks like.  Government spending is at or slightly above tax receipts.  There is an interest rate of 5 % and an inflation rate of 2 % or less.  We need to drive our budgets back to that model.
• Balance the state budget.