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Our National Debt Josh Tingler August 15, 2008 I recently had the opportunity to travel to Canada and spend a few days with our friends in the north.

 Other than the metric system, I believe the most shocking aspect of my visit was shopping.  No, not because I love to shop, but because of what I repeatedly heard as I purchased my souvenirs and meals. Almost without exception every place I visited accepted American currency on a one to one basis with Canadian.

I’m sure some of you knew this already, but to me, this was extremely interesting. I knew that our dollar wasn’t at its strongest right now. I knew that the Euro was far beyond it in value. But the Canadian dollar? No offense to Canadians, but as long as I can remember our dollar has been worth more than theirs. But now the two are being accepted on an even scale.

After getting over the initial shock, I settled down to think about our country’s monetary problem. I will not hesitate to call it that. I am not an economist, but it doesn’t take an economist to see the Dow drop and the dollar plummet. We have a mortgage crisis, and gas prices are up around four dollars per gallon (even after the recent drops). It is obvious that something is wrong.

 I’m not a doomsday prophet who goes around talking about how 1939 will look like the happy days compared to what we’re going to see, but I do see a problem. The question we should all be asking is, “What is the real problem?” To be able to fix a problem, one must find its root, correct? Only when we find the source of the problem can we talk about strategies to make it right.

 I already said that I’m not an economist, but I am a consumer. I do live here, and here’s the thought from my front porch. Our dollar is no longer backed by gold (or silver). That ended long ago. So what is it backed by? Well, really just our federal government. That’s right, our federal government. We’re talking about the very same government that is trillions of dollars in debt.

Think about this with me for a moment. Who would want their life savings, possessions, etc. to rest solely on the integrity of a government that owes trillions of dollars? What is the word of that kind of government worth when it tells its citizens, “Yes, that’s worth your hard work”?

I think the answers are pretty obvious. I understand that the market fluctuates from time to time, and I understand it is sometimes highly irregular. Okay, but is the national debt still not part of the problem? Perhaps a big part? I can’t help but think that it is.

Like I said before, realizing the problem is the first step to fixing it, but it is not the only step. If the national debt is hurting our dollar (and thereby everything from gas prices to milk prices), then what can we do about it? The options here are numerous, and discussing the value of each is for another time.

 Nonetheless, we can at least start thinking about what we need to do as voters in this upcoming election. If our government is not serious about balancing its budget and getting out of debt, we’re just hurting ourselves and laying a huge burden on our children. Think about the money that could be saved simply by cutting the “pork barrel” spending that is tagged on our legislation. What about welfare reform? Some will talk about raising taxes to pull us out of debt. At least they’re thinking about our options.

Maybe corporate taxes could be cut to bring in more companies and more jobs and thereby more tax revenue. However it is done, our budget needs balanced. Our debt needs diminished. Don’t get me wrong, some ways will prove more effective than others, but that’s not my point here.

The point is, we as voters need to act. We need to hold our elected representatives accountable. I find it hard to believe that this problem will solve itself.