National Debt Doesn’t Matter Blather

Federal debt doesn’t matter. So say MIT and Univ of Connecticut professors Simon Johnson and James Kwak in their book “Thirteen Bankers: The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown”. I recently read a review at the USA Today website.

The book claims national debt is not like debt of your family. National debt only matters because the government, and thus its citizens, must pay it back and pay interest on it. What? Isn’t that the same as a family burden? Isn’t that why I should care about it? What are you saying?

With such logic, Johnson and Kwak set up a tangential issue (size of debt = size of government), and then proceed to discuss bogus reasons to dismiss the tangential issue.

Government spending isn’t related to government impact. A little agency can make a cheap rule that a huge impact. Right, and so why does this make debt okay?

Government spending doesn’t always, or even usually, reduce liberty. In fact, increased government spending causes freedom from want.  The concept of “freedom from want” is unconstitutional heresy started by Roosevelt in 1941.  For Pete’s sake, it seems anybody could keep wanting more and more to get more and more from the government.  My opinion is that you are free to figure out what this phrase means and fund it from your own resources, if you wish. However, your desire to help others to be  “free from want” has no constitutional authority to invade our national resources, collected as taxes from my wallet.

More blatantly, our constitution provides the opposite.  It claims all are endowed with rights of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.  Looking at the last of the three, I would propose that you pursue because you want. If you do not want, you do not pursue. And thus it is revealed that this fabricated freedom is a source of our National entitlement problem.

The author’s last argument is that having the private sector do it instead of the government doesn’t succeed. Uh.. yea.. and you’re implying that government programs do? This is insane logic that has nothing to do with why Federal debt doesn’t matter.

Remember, they’re making a claim that National debt doesn’t matter. I cannot fathom why any of their arguments matter. It seems as though the entire book is a bait and switch. Uggh.. what blather..