Ashley Cruseturner: Real Recovery Will Require Collective Pain
[Ashley Cruseturner teaches American history at McLennan Community College in Waco, Texas.]
\Kudos to President Obama for striking a bargain on taxes with the Republicans. As former-President Bill Clinton articulated last Friday, at this moment of extreme economic uncertainty, bipartisan agreement on something (anything) elicits a collective sigh of relief from the American people.
Nevertheless, the substance of the compromise is alarming. We find ourselves on the precipice of an existential crisis of sustainability. According to the latest projections, we are barreling toward a national debt that will exceed 100 percent of our GDP within the next decade. Beyond that, we face more than 100 trillion dollars in unfunded liabilities (reality check: approximately one million dollars per taxpayer).
Clearly, our nation finds itself in an “hour of maximum danger.” By necessity, the curtain is closing on the era of “easy fixes” and "something for nothing." For an extended period of time, we will all need to make sacrifices, pay more in taxes, and expect much less from government. This is our new reality....
Read entire article at InsiderIowa
\Kudos to President Obama for striking a bargain on taxes with the Republicans. As former-President Bill Clinton articulated last Friday, at this moment of extreme economic uncertainty, bipartisan agreement on something (anything) elicits a collective sigh of relief from the American people.
Nevertheless, the substance of the compromise is alarming. We find ourselves on the precipice of an existential crisis of sustainability. According to the latest projections, we are barreling toward a national debt that will exceed 100 percent of our GDP within the next decade. Beyond that, we face more than 100 trillion dollars in unfunded liabilities (reality check: approximately one million dollars per taxpayer).
Clearly, our nation finds itself in an “hour of maximum danger.” By necessity, the curtain is closing on the era of “easy fixes” and "something for nothing." For an extended period of time, we will all need to make sacrifices, pay more in taxes, and expect much less from government. This is our new reality....