The Wall Street Journal reported several days ago that the national debt is $54,000 for every person in the United States as of that day, but that is not the end as it continues to grow each day.
We are now starting to enroll folks in the Affordable Care Act, which the Congressional Budget Office has declared will add to the existing debt in a significant way.
The aim of reasonable health care for all is a noble goal but to start at a time of deep debt seems to me to be poor timing.
While it is true that most developed nations have some sort of health care system, I really doubt that they were started in a time of deep financial crisis.
Anything that adds to the debt forces the government to print more money to pay for the added debt plus the debt already on the books; every dollar printed erodes the purchasing power of the existing dollars causing inflation.
The government tells us inflation is under control, but a trip to almost any store seems to require us to pay higher prices every day. Workers are seeking higher pay and the minimum wage is on its way up adding cost for us all.
Those who have retired have a difficult time as many have only Social Security and their bank savings interest to live on, and those who are savers have a hard time with interest rates at-all time lows and then must pay income tax on their small earnings.
While it is true that the present administration came into power with a significant debt, it is also true that it has added new debt at an alarming rate. All this debt, old and new, adds to lowering the purchasing power of the dollar.
Those that are still active in the labor market have a better chance to cope, but those who are retired are stuck with what ever assets they may have accumulated in a lifetime of work; reduced buying power of their income is a real worry.
Government, at all levels, must get smaller and more cost effective in the way needed services are delivered if our republic is to survive.
Darryl Smith
Kelseyville
