

Column: Massive debt is real 'fiscal cliff'

3:06 PM, Jan. 23, 2013  |  Comments
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So ... the so-called "fiscal cliff" was averted by a last-minute deal by a totally non-functional government. Even though lawmakers said they saved the country from going over an imaginary cliff, am I the only one who doesn't have that warm fuzzy feeling about the whole situation?

Instead of focusing on the real driver of our fiscal imbalance, runaway government spending, Congress passed a bill that's all taxes and no serious spending reductions. For every $41 in tax increases there is a measly $1 in spending cuts. This deal will add $4 trillion to the deficit during the next decade. It actually includes billions in new spending while 77 percent of all households will see an increase in taxes.

The real fiscal cliff is the massive debt that is sinking our economy and our country: $16 trillion and counting. With a trillion-dollar deficit, we are going into debt to the tune of $114 billion/hour. Who in their right mind thinks it's sustainable? Who in their right mind doesn't see that an economy built on a foundation of sand will collapse and drive the majority of its citizens into poverty and third-world status?

One of the problems with throwing around numbers of this size is that people (me included) have a hard time putting millions, billions and trillions into the proper context.

This is the best way I can explain it. One million seconds is 11 1/2 days. One billion seconds is 32 years. One trillion seconds is 32,000 years. Folks, there's a huge gap between 11 1/2 days and 32,000 years. I can grasp the concept of a million dollars but even a billion is more than I can wrap my mind around, let alone a trillion.

Do I see spending being reined in any time soon? Unfortunately not. To quote Jim Rogers, the famed commodities trader, you would need to take a chain saw to this budget to make any meaningful cuts, and nobody, Republican or Democrat has shown any leadership in regards to fiscal responsibility. To even begin the process of getting the budget balanced, someone's sacred cow or cows would have to be gored. Politicians are more worried about getting re-elected, and taking money away from constituents quickly will get them kicked out of office.

I fear for my country and the path we are on. I am angry that I have worked my whole life, lived below my means in order to save and invest, and a desperate, bankrupt government will destroy and extort the assets of anybody who has accumulated even a modest nest egg in order to feed its insatiable appetite for debt and spending. It is immoral on every level.

Yet, until the citizens rise up and demand a more limited constitutional government, I don't see anything changing any time soon.

Pamela Jaffke, DVM, is co-owner of Dairyland Animal Clinic, Owen.

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