Post War debt levels setting the bar

In the decades following most American Wars the national debt grew by 3-5 times that of prewar levels. The increase is understandable but the fact that with only one exception, it never receded to anywhere near prewar levels is somewhat curious. After the Revolutionary War our debt was about $75 million but in the following 35 years it was actually reduced to zero.

Starting with the Civil War the debt increase has never been reduced following the many Wars we’ve fought. Without questioning the validity of any of the Wars I do have to question why we have the need to sustain such high debt levels. If it is truly the result of the cost of War can we justify financing any future conflicts considering our largest creditor was also on the opposite side of the battlefield in one of our most contentious conflicts?

I think it’s more likely the justification and high cost of War has been leveraged to increase the size, scope and cost of government. It should be evident to all Americans that none of our elected representatives are authentically concerned with any serious reduction in our national debt, they’re currently involved in paranoia-mongering with an artificially created debt ceiling and using it for posture in the 2012 elections. If you look at how many times the debt ceiling has been raised in the last ten years you will see this so called debate is merely a political reality show, with very bad actors.

The real debt ceiling will only be hit when we are no longer able to borrow money (I’m sorry sir you card has been declined) but a credit downgrade is a likely possibility very soon. Considering about 50% of all government spending is on credit a loss of borrowing power would mean an immediate reduction in how much we spend. Instead of debating how much we can appear to cut from any party’s pet projects so we can artificially reduce our debt over the long term we should be looking at how we can immediately eliminate any and all unnecessary government spending, if we are downgraded this will happen automatically.

Happy Birthday America

As we celebrate the birth of the greatest nation in history I can’t help but think the rest of the world is celebrating too. The seeds of freedom planted by our forefathers not only yielded the bountiful harvest we now enjoy but profoundly and positively affected all corners of our planet like no other nation that came before. July 4th 1776 was the determining factor between two possible courses of world history and I believe the world is generally as thankful for America as we are.