Out of the Moneybags of Babes

You hear that the future generations are already in debt.  But, how can that be? And what does that really mean?

I’m interested because I’m an expectant mom contributing to the future generation starting this October.  I wonder what will life be like in America for my kid?

I’m sure a lot of parents have the same question.   Babies are born into this world as a clean slate, but in America, the government has already attached a tax bill to them.

The Congressional Budget Office has calculated that babies born just two years ago in 2010, were saddled with their share of public debt of $29,178. That is a striking number that is only increasing as the government spends more and more money that it doesn’t have.  Has my baby’s future already been spent on some other person’s government benefits, like Medicaid?  If so, I better rethink baby names to Peter, because what the government is doing is robbing Peter to pay Paul.   I don’t think it’s funny.

The current debt load for this country is so massive that even the taxes collected on my unborn baby have already been spent by our government.   This is where I believe government spending has crossed the line to being a brazen financial misfit throwing any caution to the wind when they add another zero (or five) to their expenditures. They need to have their credit frozen.

Basically, the government has borrowed, taken, stolen, however you want to phrase it, the future tax collections from future generations.  Simply put, the government has been spending money that its citizens haven’t even earned yet. How lucky is the government? I wish I could have that line of credit.

Because government is a monopoly, they have no incentive to rein in costs to remain competitive. They have no competitors and can’t go out of business. Don’t believe me? Try to get your driver’s license renewed somewhere else besides the DMV.

The U.S. debt crisis is not to be brushed aside lightly or scoffed at. This issue can become real dire, real quick.   Greece is already living the debt crisis.  From the riot photos I’ve seen, it’s ugly and tearing the country apart.

They don’t have the money to pay hospital workers and their systems are bordering on non-operational. The buzzword of the 2012, austerity, can be simply explained by having the government live within its means.  By doing that, they have to cut welfare programs, retirement pensions, and other government-funded programs that have been going over budget.  The insolvency issue of the Greek government has spread to many countries in Europe.

The U.S. government is not immune to this financial bleeding and we certainly don’t want to see it happen here.  The correction has to start somewhere. Since the banking crisis that started in 2009 caused a lot of people to rethink their spending habits, savings rates have started to rise in America.  My hope is that the concept of self-sufficiency in America will rise as well.

Entitlement spending has increased over the last three years which does not bode well for becoming self-sufficient. If you look at the increase of food stamps, also known as SNAP, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,  there are now over 45 million American’s receiving federal SNAP benefits today.  Basically, they are receiving a transfer of wealth from tax payers to their government-issued EBT card. This appropriately named acronym, the Electronic Benefit Transfer, basically puts tax-payers money on a card for a welfare recipient to spend. The rise of dependence on the government for basic necessities forebodes a nation of people perpetually with their hand out.  Food stamps are just one portion of the government benefit pie that are causing our debt to balloon.

Lil’ Baby Moneybags sure can’t grow up fast enough to start earning his keep around here. Except that he won’t just be earning his keep, he’ll be supporting the debt load of this country with nothing to show for it. I’m not sure how the country can get out from underneath this debt, I don’t think even Suze Orman knows the solution to that.  Digging deeper into debt by having government spending more and more is not the answer, no matter how many times New York Times columnist Paul Krugman says so.

So what DOES this all mean? More debt saddling our next generation is going to cause them to have a more difficult time creating a better quality of life than their parents.  Wanting the best for your child is a common goal for parents, but I worry about the piles of debt heaped on the next generation by a fiscally-irresponsibly government.  Government’s cradle-to-grave mentality that seeks to take care of everyone is truly disingenuous and ultimately inhibits the individual’s path to prosperity. Sorry, my baby…

Related posts: