I submitted an Op-Ed to my local paper and they printed it today in the Sunday Section. The National Debt has increased almost $5 trillion under George Bush's watch. My Op-Ed asks the simple question 'Where did it go?'
The election of Bush represented the pinnacle of a 30-year shift toward Republican dominance of national politics in the United States. With unquestioning support from Republicans and weak opposition from Democrats in Congress, the Bush administration was able to institute a radical agenda. This included a massive tax cut favoring the wealthy, the invasion of Iraq, a multi-trillion dollar Medicare prescription drug plan, erosion of privacy rights, a lobbyist-written bankruptcy bill, widespread deregulation and weakened oversight of corporations.
These policies by the self-described party of fiscal responsibility added $5 trillion to our national credit card (and added trillions more to our future obligations). That extra $5 trillion of debt represents a $46,000 bill for each and every household in America. I have to ask one simple question: What did we buy for $46,000 plus interest?
All that money certainly didn’t improve our economy. The real median household income has declined since 2000, more than 13 million children live in poverty, unemployment is rising, the value of the dollar has declined, the stock market is plummeting and our entire financial system is on the brink of collapse.
We didn’t use it to end our dependence on foreign oil. We have made little progress in producing alternative energy or increasing energy efficiency over the last eight years. The nation still uses 25 percent of the world’s oil and only has 3 percent of the world’s proven reserves, ensuring rising oil prices will cripple our economy and enrich foreign dictators.
We didn’t spend the money to end our national health care crisis. The cost of health care continues to spiral out of control, putting an immense burden on American businesses and working families. We pay almost twice as much per capita as most developed countries for health care, and we still have high infant mortality rates, low life expectancies and 47 million Americans without insurance.
That $5 trillion did not make us any safer. The invasion of Iraq has stretched our military thin, alienated our allies, increased Iranian influence and greatly increased terrorist recruiting. Too many nuclear weapons are still unprotected, Afghanistan is slipping back into chaos, and Osama Bin Laden has not been captured.
We also didn’t fix our crumbling infrastructure, revive American manufacturing, improve our educational system, make college affordable or address the many looming environmental problems including global warming.
With strong leadership, we could have accomplished several of these necessary goals with $5 trillion. Instead, we have added another serious burden to an already long list of problems. We now have to pay about $450 billion every year in interest payments on the debt just to tread water. As a direct result of the disastrous economic decisions made over the last eight years, we will have higher taxes, a lower quality of life, fewer options and be at the mercy of foreign creditors for decades.
Before this administration ends and George Bush leaves for a comfortable retirement and six-figure speaking fees, and before Alaskans re-elect politicians who supported these failed policies, we deserve an answer to this simple question: Where did the money go?
And then, we can ask: Who will pay it back?