OPINION:
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
I want to thank future generations for their generosity. Babes unborn have granted us a boundless line of credit. Future generations have allowed residents of the richest country on Earth the pleasure of present consumption on their tab. And by the time they’ve figured it out, we’ll be dead.
Since George Bush’s inauguration on Jan. 20, 2001, the national debt has increased by $4.1 trillion or 72 percent. For 80 years now, funds taken in for retirement (Social Security) and medical care for the aged (Medicare) have all been spent upon receipt. We’ve already run up $53 trillion of unfunded obligations.
The conventional wisdom seems to be that all of this represents new burdens on the overburdened taxpayer. Cartoonists picture a hapless grunt labeled “taxpayer” with yet another tax bag slung over his middle-aged back.
When will he collapse? But the real question is: When was the last time taxes were actually increased? Last I saw, they were reduced. Even the bailout has tax cuts.
When you have an unlimited line of credit it’s easy to go to war, easy to avoid drilling in Arctic National Wildlife Reserve; and easy to undertake the medical, educational, social and financial costs of illegal immigration.
Campaign promises of tax cuts and free medical care are logical offerings when you have unlimited funds. Bailout for AIG? Bailout for Fannie and Freddie? Bail out for Wall Street? No problem.
Tax reformers complain that progressive taxation represents theft from the deserving rich on behalf of the undeserving poor, but at least there is the give and take of the political process. Taking from the unborn is true larceny. It is the perfect crime. For the unborn, there will be pain. There will be impotent rage, but we will be gone. Thank you again.
Washington
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