Stan Geiger

Speaking to the Youth: Rise Up!

Poll numbers abound concerning the Obama administration. The numbers are broken down across a broad front of issues and demographics. But I’ve seen no numbers relative to the youngsters that were so excited about the great one a year ago. How do they feel now?

I think it’s important to know. Is the youth of the nation disappointed? Are the youngsters disengaging?

I recall writing, sometime late last year, of how the Obama election could serve as an important learning experience for the youngsters. If the youngsters are disappointed in the great stuffed shirt they so adamantly supported, I’d call that a good thing. But if the youth of the nation is disengaging, the youngsters need to know they cannot afford to do so.

CBS Evening News published a story on Obama’s lack of approval numbers last night. One matter touched on was the general population’s concern about deficit spending. Throughout the campaign, Obama pounded the podium in complaint of Bush deficit spending. He promised to clean up the mess. Instead, the deficit for the fiscal year just ended came in at $1.4 trillion.

The story noted a disconnect between the Obama administration and the citizenry. People with some sense have a hard time understanding how Washington can spend an additional trillion dollars on health care over the next 10 years and have that result in reduced deficits. Talk about your voodoo economics.

The report said the official national debt number now tops $12 trillion. I say “official” because there’s a lot more to the story. That figure doesn’t count unfunded liabilities for things like Social Security and Medicare---or, for that matter, state pension funds all across the land. Trillions need to be spent on upgrading the electrical grid and catching up with a major backlog of infrastructure projects.

The official national debt figure is expected climb to $20 trillion over the next 10 years. That would set the federal debt load at an amount equal to100 percent of GDP. In other words, barring change, Uncle Sam, in 10 years, will owe an amount equal to an entire year’s worth of national spending.

With a debt load that large, the federal government would be forced to do one of two things, if not both. It could print the money to pay down the debt. That would lead to inflation that would eat us alive. Or it could install heavy tax increases. And don’t be living in a dream world about those tax increases landing only on the wealthy. Things have gotten so bad now, tax increases---even heavy tax increases---on the nation’s wealthy would put but a dent in the deficits.

Interest on the debt is another major issue. The report said the federal government is currently paying out about $200 billion a year in interest---much of which goes to foreign governments. Projections say the federal government, if we stay on our present course, will be paying interest of $700 billion a year by 2019.

I know it’s hard for young folks 18, 25 or even 35 years old to look past their noses. I’ve been there. I’m now 51 years old. And I’d tell the kids in the aforementioned age groups, if they expect to have any kind of a life when they reach my age, they’d better get engaged and stay engaged. Forget about party affiliation and labels like “conservative” or “liberal.” View every self-serving old fart in Washington as an enemy, and tell them all, in no uncertain terms, to quit selling you out.

Rise up, oh youth of the nation. Rise up and defend your inheritance. Do it now. If you don’t, in 10 or 20 years you won’t have one.

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