Another Digit for the Debt Clock

When the people who maintain the National Debt Clock in New York had to make way for another digit last week, it was yet another reminder how we're digging a hole in this country deeper and deeper by the day. And of course, it will be the Millennial Generation and successive generations that will pay the price.

Our national government cannot strike an equal balance between the money it takes in and the money it sends out. It seems like such an elementary principle. But our legislators are immensely irresponsible on both fronts. We prove time and time again how shortsighted we are. Right now, a whopping 8% of our budget goes to paying the interest on these loans, many of which are to foreign countries like China.  

Our national debt is over $10,000,000,000,000 (ten trillion). When will this insanity end? Some propose a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget, as many states have. Others suggest Presidential line-item veto power. Whatever the solution may be, we need to get the debt paid down and start doing something about the tens of trillions of dollars in liabilities we will be facing over the next decades through Social Security and Medicare. 

The issue of the national debt is fundamentally one for young voters. It is time we put more pressure our elected officials to devote more attention to solving this issue.