Letter to the Editor: Don't kick the can down the road on national debt

Annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is defined as “…the total value of goods produced and services provided in a country during one year.” US GDP was $25.46 trillion in 2022. Our nation’s debt was then approaching its legal limit of $31.5 trillion…a debt-to-GDP ratio of 1.24…or 124%. Interest on that amount of debt is approaching a TRILLION dollars per year. As a republic of over 330 million people, we’re not capable of voting on every issue facing our democracy…so we elect 535 federal legislators to do that for us. Even that number seems incapable of resolving our debt dilemma…so their leaders relegated the smoke-filled-room haggling on the budget and debt cap to a handful of negotiators.

Somebody famous once said that our legislative system would work until those in power realized that they could give away other people’s money with no immediate consequences to themselves. In fact, during the COVID epidemic, we managed to outspend our nation’s income by $7-8 TRILLION—all, one could argue, for a genuine emergency. Personally, we’re encouraged by financial gurus to keep a year’s wages under the mattress to survive unplanned events. Reasonable people recognize that it will take years to bring the federal debt down to a safe level, but there’s absolutely no way to do that unless we START. Website ceicdata.com shows government debt-toGDP ratios for over 110 countries as of 12/31/22. Only ten countries have ratios over 100%…Japan, Greece, Singapore, Lebanon, Italy, Portugal, United States, France, Spain, Sri Lanka and United Kingdom. Arguably, the greatest nation on earth should be able to find a reasonable, financially sound path forward, and not kick the can down the road for a year or so, only making the impending financial crisis worse.

A. A. Smith, Amarillo

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Letter to the Editor: Impending US financial crisis needs action now