Debt explosion

No better term exists to encompass the worst that can happen due to the reckless expansion of federal government and irresponsible borrowing to finance it.

I am extremely concerned about the spending trends in Washington, D.C., and taxpayers should be equally disturbed. In under six months, the government has obligated trillions in new spending. Like every other taxpayer in Missouri, I see the bill coming for this spree and ask, how are we supposed to pay for this? The answer, of course, is that we are not -- this debt explosion will belong to generations and generations of our children, and their children, and so on.

The idea that we can defer debt for years and years is just as dangerous as the thought that we can pin the tab for government's largesse on working American men and women in this or any other generation.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, federal spending will outweigh federal revenue (gained mainly from taxes) by $1.7 trillion this year -- a figure equal to 12 percent of our national economic output. As a percentage of gross domestic product, this will be the largest deficit since World War II.

The national deficit and the national debt travel hand in hand. At the end of this federal fiscal year we will face $12 trillion in national debt. The interest on that sum in a single year amounts to $565 billion. A debt explosion, indeed.

Solutions to this situation fall into three categories. First, some say we need more spending and another stimulus, even though the first stimulus has failed to deliver on the sweet promises of jobs and recovery that accompanied it. Second, some want to raise taxes, on energy, on greenhouse gases, on income, and on health-care benefits, placing the burden for more spending squarely on taxpayers. Finally, there is the responsible course, the one my family and every other family in Southern Missouri takes when money gets tight: contain the debt explosion by spending less.

At a national level, out-of-control debt means unheard-of challenges to U.S. currency on the world market and a cold reception for any new U.S. debt. In the short term, it is good to discourage U.S. borrowing from foreign countries, but the proper way to do so is to offer less debt -- not to flood the market with it. Doing so would cause Americans to experience a shrinking share of global wealth and jobs.

The debt explosion also contains many silent dangers, and the greatest of them is this: As interest rates climb, they may as much as double the cost of federal borrowing in the next year. When high interest rates compound and grow, the interest on our national debt could grow from $565 billion to such a large annualized amount that it would be nearly impossible to pay off.

Just like a credit card balance that gets out of hand, the national debt is inviting a multitrillion-dollar disaster caused solely by interest rates.

If instead we check the bank book before we buy, our children will thank us and more American opportunities will stay right here in America if we can pose this simple test before we spend a dollar. In 2009, we have learned how much the word stimulus can cost us, and we have also learned the danger of pinning our hopes on government spending to create an economic recovery.

Proponents of the stimulus package are now saying they "miscalculated" its effect on the economy. I suppose that is the closest thing we are going to get to an apology. In the meanwhile, the debt explosion gets worse every day we don't stand up for economic sense.

Jo Ann Emerson of Cape Girardeau represents Missouri's 8th District in the U.S. House of Representatives.