Opinion: The U.S. national debt is more than just money
Deficit spending has been described as borrowing from our children or mortgaging their future. It allows our government to postpone payment to some future time and circumstance for the gratification of current needs. It can damage our economy, the degree to which is hotly debated. Borrowing beyond our means potentially punishes both us and our posterity.
There is another form of borrowing essential to this discussion. When we abuse environmental resources, such as clean air and water, by unnecessarily burning fossil fuels, we pollute, waste resources, degrade our environment and create debt that will need to be repaid. Excess greenhouse gases in our atmosphere overheats our earth and also generates debts that will need to be resolved at a much higher price, if not by us, then by our descendants.
Related
As we debate the fiscal deficit, let’s also keep the Earth stewardship deficit in the forefront. The former is real but somewhat abstract, the later can be seen, identified, measured, and is toxic to our well-being. If we don’t invest adequately to address these problems today, as mentioned in the Deseret News article, “Why clean energy is always the answer,” our children will be faced with even bigger fiscal deficits. Ask your members of Congress to legislate for a responsible fiscal and environmental future.
David Ryser
Sandy
