Spending ourselves rich / The fallacies of national debt

WorldNetDaily / BIZNETDAILY ^ | February 13, 2003 | By Ian Hodge

[George Frm Br00klyn Park]

WorldNetDaily / Commentary

BIZNETDAILY COMMENTARY
Spending ourselves rich / The fallacies of national debt
The fallacies of national debt

Posted: February 13, 2003
1:00 a.m. Eastern

Ian Hodge is a regular columnist for Business Reform Magazine, the leading Christian business magazine with over 100,000 readers. Each issue of Business Reform features practical advice on operating successfully in business while glorifying God.

By Ian Hodge
© 2003 Business Reform

Congress is about to vote on the national debt. Its limit of $6.4 trillion has almost been reached and the government must either extend the limit or stop spending. It takes no genius to figure out the course of action that will buy the most votes next election.

Every age has its myths. Our age is no different. One of the myths today is the idea that we can all get richer by spending, especially if we spend other people’s money.

There are a couple of fallacies behind this idea. One of the fallacies is that money is the only form of wealth, and so long as we have more money we have thereby become richer. That such an idea is given credibility highlights a problem of our education system: its failure to teach people to think. And if you can’t think, said the Ford founder, you’re not educated.

The second fallacy attached to the idea of spending ourselves rich is the notion that of all the kinds of spending, government spending is more likely to make us richer. Somehow, bureaucrats and politicians know better than anyone else how to spend money so everyone becomes wealthier.

It takes only a few seconds of careful thought to realize that such a notion is silly. If all we do is spend other people’s money and crank up our debt levels, we have not made everyone richer at all. Those who have access to borrowed funds get an opportunity to obtain goods and services, but this opportunity is denied to all those who cannot borrow.

On the other hand, government spending solves little since the government can only spend what it takes from its citizens. It puts back what it has already taken, expecting us to believe that this process makes us richer.

In former times, taxation was lower and did not carry current levels of compulsory compliance. We can only begin to appreciate the hostility to standing armies at America’s founding, for example, because armies brought with them permanent taxation, and taxation, it was thought by many, was theft unless voluntarily agreed to.

Today we have no option to pay our taxes unless we are prepared for jail as a consequence. The government, having spent all its tax revenue, plus an additional $6.4 trillion, will need to find creative ways to find that money. Tax cuts that do not result in improved economic conditions and therefore more tax revenue will only exacerbate the problem of government debt. Government spending that is not reined in will also exacerbate the debt levels.

It hardly seems plausible that so many accept the notion that we are rich when we are so much in debt. But we continue to believe in the notion that debt is the way to wealth.

“A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children,” says the writer of Proverbs. We strain the bounds of credulity by insisting that debt is a worthwhile legacy to our children and their heirs. And so we persist in ever-higher levels of debt and ever-higher levels of taxation to cover the debt.

It is time we seriously considered the notion that wealth will only improve by creating more goods and services at prices that trend downwards. In such an economy our wealth (goods and services) increases while the value of our many purchases also increases through lower prices.

This is the only way to get rich known to man. That the moneylenders and tax officials have convinced us otherwise is an indication of our willingness to believe anything so long as it is not true.

Surely, fools and their money are soon parted.

THIS article at WND
--------------------------------------

- Current ------------- Amount

- 02/13/2003 ------ $6,414,860,990,193.10

-- Current
-- Month

-- 02/12/2003 --- $6,400,775,460,992.07
-- 02/11/2003 --- $6,403,775,445,922.86
-- 02/10/2003 --- $6,400,363,175,585.80
Debt to the Penny

[George Frm Br00klyn Park]

All, As the Treasury Department shows US, the TD is already exceeding Congress's mandated limit. Why should Congress raise the limit?? Peace and love, George.

[George Frm Br00klyn Park]

Guys, I wonder if we will get the arguement that, "We must borrow the money to 'service' our debt??" This ALWAYS amazes me. Peace and love, George.

[Free the USA]

bump