National Debt

Last night, Chris, Ryan, Kat, and I saw the documentary I.O.U.S.A. which is about the US National Debt. I knew my country was in debt, but this movie opened my eyes to the seriousness of the situation. Currently, the country is so deep into debt that every American would have to pay $47,000 to pay it all off. And that number is only accurate if the government shuts down and stops spending. Government spending is way, way, way out of control.

This issue isn't an issue of the right vs. the left, Republicans vs. Democrats. This issue is the same across both parties. Our representatives are spending too much money. Personally, I aim to stay out of debt and it's time my government did too.

After the movie, we watched a panel discussion which was put together just for this special event. The panel consisted of some very, very smart individuals: Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway; William Niskanen, chairman of the Cato Institute; Bill Novelli, CEO of AARP; Pete Peterson, senior chairman of The Blackstone Group and chairman of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation; and Dave Walker, (my personal favorite) president & CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation and former U.S. Comptroller General. They all had differing opinions on various pieces of the topic, but they all agreed on one thing - the US National Debt is a HUGE problem that needs to be worked on urgently; we have to force our representatives to do something.

I was especially impressed with Dave Walker, who was a former US Comptroller General. In that role, he prepared and presented the nation's financial statements to Congress and the President. Dave became so concerned with the awful financial situation of the US that he resigned from the position to become a full-time advocate for eliminating the debt. He runs the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, which is working to wake up Americans so that we get this problem fixed.

I'm fired up about this issue. I believe this country has significant problems with overspending both in the government and in the private sector. (The stats back it up; this year was the first time in history the savings rate was negative.) We've lost our common sense with finances. It's time to get things back on track so I'm going to get involved. On Wednesday, I'm going to go work at the phone bank for Bob Lord, who is running for Congress in my district. He clearly states on his website how he feels about the national debt problem. He wants to stop spending money we don't have. I couldn't agree more and I'm going to do everything I can to get Bob Lord and more people like him elected.

Then I'm going to start writing my current representatives - John Shadegg, Jon Kyl, and John McCain. They need to know people really care about this issue and we expect them to do something about it. You should do the same. Find out who your representatives are at Whoismyrepresentative.com

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The Gross National Debt

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