Today's Debt Should Not Result in the Next Generation's Downfall

If we watch the attitudes of the older generation (baby boomer generation), many do not want to take responsibilities for some of the issues they have caused over their life times. This is especially apparent in politicians; many would rather pass legislation to patch all the issues up here and now, either knowing that someone later on will need to pay for this eventually or just being to oblivious to see the previously stated fact. I am not saying that you cannot fix problems in the present, seeing many would rather live in the present and not have to worry about a silly little thing called tomorrow. In many cases though, someone always has to pay, and if people do not act in the present to prepare for it, our future generation (myself included) is going to have a major decline. 

There is no better example of this improper attitude than the U.S. National Debt, the ultimate stockpile of our nation's great wars, bailout packages, and health care reforms since 2001. If anybody remembers, Bill Clinton, during the last three years of his presidency, balanced the federal budget, completely wiping out the debt. Then George W. Bush entered office and the debt creeped back up to heartbreaking levels and now, President Obama feels he can throw money to bail out anybody who is deemed a necessary company for operation. Due to recent events, between bailing out Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac and the entire automobile industry, and fighting a long war in Iraq and Afghanistan, our national debt has creeped up to $15,347,769,175,432.12.

If you cannot identify the number above, we will just round it down to $15 trillion for our sake. Another fact about that number above is that it is debt, and therefore, like any other credit card debt, must be payed for by somebody. Seeing how far up it is going, I do not feel the baby boom generation is taking it seriously and would rather live the rest of their lives in peace, leaving that $15 trillion for us to pay. And it is not as though that debt is just standing still: on average since September 28, 2007, the debt has gone up almost $4 billion a day. That is more than 99.9999% of the population will make in their lifetime, so how do you suppose we pay off a debt that keeps increasing. Well for one thing, we need to tell the older generation to get serious.

Our parents, teachers, and elders have lectured us over and over again to take responsibility for our actions, yet when the baby boom generation has to step up, they decide to just pass it on to their children instead, throwing their hands up, yelling, "we don't know what to do with this!" Obviously, if you do not know what to do, then how do you think we will fair any better. There is a good chance that when our generation begins to take Congressional seats, judicial seats, and eventually, the presidency, we will end up passing a higher debt to our children, just as our fore fathers had done to us. It is not fair, it is not just, and it certainly is not right. But if we want to do better for our children one day, as many of our parents had attempted for us, we are going to need to toughen up, dig in our heels, and pay this debt.