Historic Debt Crisis Remains Largely Out Of 2024 Electoral Spotlight

Debts and deficits aren't really getting much traction on the campaign trail this year. At least so far. But that inattention among pols and their hangers-on doesn't mean it's okay for the rest of us to ignore the rising tide of red ink.

If anything, we need to understand just how truly historic these current debt levels are. World Economic Forum president Borge Brende recently offered just such a view:

We haven't seen this kind of debt since the Napoleonic Wars, we are getting close to 100% of the global GDP in debt,” he said.

He said governments needed to consider how to reduce that debt and take the right fiscal measures without getting into a situation where it kicks off a recession.

Think about that. And then wonder how it is some in the political class can argue – without a shred of irony or self-doubt – that debts don't matter, we own it all to ourselves, the government should be spending more, and so on.

The argument against all of this comes down to one chart: outstanding U.S. debt from 1790 to 2023.

From the “Republican Revolution in 1994” when debt was in the $4 trillion range, to 2023, with populist majorities in control of both ends of Pennsylvania Ave. and the debt sitting at more than $33 trillion, we're roughly on pace to add at least an extra trillion dollars on new debt every year.

With less to show for it…if we ignore the heap of IOUs in the mailbox.

Of course, one could argue, as our friend son the left, and increasingly on the right are wont to do, that “the rich” don't pay nearly enough, corporations get away with all manner of tax dodging, and really, there's no problem with entitlements that even greater taxes on those same idle rich (and our grandchildren) can't fix.

Yeah…about that. The Manhattan Institute's Brian Riedl noted that even if the state we to confiscate the wealth of every U.S. billionaire, it wouldn't be enough to cover the tab for Social Security.

Or as he wrote in this Manhattan Institute report:

Most progressives (and even many nonprogressives) vastly overestimate the amount of tax revenues that could be raised from taxing the rich. For example, even 100% tax rates on million-dollar earners would not come close to balancing the budget, and seizing all $4.5 trillion of billionaire wealth—every home, car, business, and investment—would merely fund the federal government one time for nine months.

As always, we demand more government than we are willing to pay for. And the political class, more interested in its long-term career prospects than sound public policy or leadership, is happy to give it to us. Rinse and repeat.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.