The Public Debt - Essay Example

If the public debt, which is currently at $4,729,558,284,914, continues to grow, we can expect to see continued reductions in social programs in the way of increased Medicare deductibles and premiums, and decreased service to impoverished children and families. We can also expect to cuts in areas such as armed services by way of continued closings of bases, which often times are located in rural areas and are the basis of the local economies. We can expect, too, to see cuts in education. These are areas, when the government makes cuts to bring public debt under some semblance of control, which are normally reviewed by Congress and are cut.

For the most part, most of us are accustomed to reading about these kinds of cuts in the local papers and hearing about them on the news. A report issued in April, 2005, by the National Center for Children in Poverty, cites 40 percent of America’s children live in families with poverty level incomes (National 1). The Bush Administration, the report says, and Congress has called for dramatic cuts in a program that is already struggling to meet the needs of the low-income families currently on the program (National 1).

The program, which received increased funding during the 1990s to facilitate the Welfare to Work goals, continued to turn away thousands of needy due to limited resources (National 1). Medicaid, a federally sponsored program that works in conjunction with state resources to provide healthcare to needy families, would also be dramatically cut as part of the existing proposals (National 2). What, then, besides impacting already needy elderly, disabled, poverty level adults and children can we consider to help reduce the public debt?

First, put a ceiling on the public debt, which, according to its web site, operates to meet the financial needs of the American Government and has no real ceiling and operates under the assumption that it can and will borrow funds on an as needed basis to keep the US Government operating (Public 2). We cannot try to put a ceiling on the borrow activities of the Bureau of Public Debt, as it would in the end probably be more costly to do that, and to then have to deal with the consequences of that kind of an action.

We can however, make the Bureau of Public Debt more accountable in its oversight in borrowing and the financial institutions whose cost for operating in support of the activities of the Bureau are absorbed by the taxpayers (Public 12). We could, too, invest in a program to examine and hold accountable members of Congress in their spending. While no figure is readily available, we could do an independent accounting of Congressional spending and oversight, and put limits on our lawmakers with respect to their spending at the public expense.

Congressmen and women enjoy a great many perks at the public expense. According to the National Taxpayer’s Union Foundation, “Members elected in 1984 and thereafter pay 1.3 percent towards the pension and 6.2 percent to Social Security. This only compensates for about 1/5 of the typical lifetime benefit. We cover the rest as taxpayers (Union 1).” Why should our lawmakers be held to a different standard than the people struggling to support them? The answer is, they should not, and they should contribute to the retirement and Social Security systems like any other worker in America.

Still, the Foundation reports, “In the final analysis, Congressional pension benefits are 2-3 times more generous than what a similarly-salaried executive could expect to receive upon retiring from the private sector (Taxpayer 1).” And there are more perks that cost the taxpayers dearly. So, when we have lawmakers who routinely look to the elderly, impoverished and children to pay for the Public Debt, perhaps this time around, our cuts should begin with them. Works Cited National Center for Children in Poverty.

Economic Insecurity: Implications of Federal Budget Proposals For Low-Income Working Families. http://www.ncp.org/media/ape_05text.pdf. 19 December 2005. National Taxpayers Union Foundation. http://www.ntu.org/main/page.php?PageID=20. 19 December 2005.