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Show Public Debt Is Not Like Private Debt' Most of us know that the federal debt is about $273 billion. But few have any concept of what that means it's just a figure, almost beyond human comprehension. Senator Byrd, writing in National Review, gives a vivid picture of the debt. That $275 billion, he says, "is equivalent of the assessed value of all the land, buildings, mines, machinery, factories, livestock everything of tangible value in the United States." Then he goes on to say something that must be far better understood than it is now if this country, as we know it, is to survive: "Public debt is not like private debt. If private debt is not paid off, it can be ended by bankruptcy proceedings, and maybe not many people are hurt. If public debt is not paid off paid off with taxes the result is disastrous inflation or repudiation. Either would destroy our form of government." The proposed new budget is the largest in our peacetime peace-time history. According to the estimatee, there will be a small surplus if this budget is approved. But it is evident that even a very moderate decline in the business boom, with the effect that would have on tax revenues, would eliminate such a surplus and put a deficit in its place. Senator Byrd believes that the the budget can be cut by more than $6 billion without harm to an essential federal fed-eral function. If we cannot do that now, with the economy running at peak speed, when can we? |