Show 0 U 1 national national topics interpreted t by william bruckart Nat national tonal press fress durding Wout worthington hington D C washington A national debt of what does it mean I 1 I 1 national I 1 was staggered debt as probably you were the other day when the morning newspapers blazoned forth in black headlines they should have been printed in red ink that by next june 30 the american government will owe a total of I 1 knew from all of the spending that is going on these days that the national debt was going higher in the fiscal year that started with the opening of july the debt had to increase because of the lavish use of money voted by congress under the lash of president roosevelt but when I 1 saw the revised estimates officially issued by the bureau of the budget somehow I 1 was startled amazed the implications are so many that the magnitude of this debt simply has bas overwhelmed me but there it is forty billions and a half which uncle sam will owe when the spenders get through wasting chiseling chi finding spots where federal loans or new projects or just plain pork barrel distribution of money drain dollars from the federal treasury after the first impact of this news wore off I 1 began to look around to see what it means what does docs it mean to me I 1 wondered and to lo you the first thought that I 1 had naturally was how is this money going to be paid back to those from whom it was borrowed by uncle sam everyone knows of course that the federal government has as only two ways to get funds by taxation or by borrowing the fact that borrowed money must be repaid means of course that there is only one way by which we can expect the government to obtain funds there must be taxes oodles of taxes or the government must do that which every person abhors refuse to pay its debts that is repudiation tion default becoming a deadbeat L r heretofore this thing called the national debt has been more or less something way off in the distance from me I 1 could not be too much concerned personally how much the federal government owed except that I 1 realized some portion of it was going to come out of my own earnings while I 1 am trying to pay for education of my twp tap boys keep my household running and buy those things which my wife enjoys I 1 figured of course that I 1 would be working a part of each year to pay back the money that is being borrowed now but someway I 1 did not get excited about the whole thing until this latest set of government statistics was released by acting director daniel bell of the budget bureau I 1 learned from the treasury that right now the per capita national debt amounts to that is to say without any more borrowing or spending each man woman and child in the united states whether he be knows it or not has been obligated by his national government to that extent well president roosevelt says there will be an increase of in the national debt between now and next june 30 that means an increase in the per capita debt obviously so when you do a little figuring you will find that by next june 30 the federal government will owe almost for each of us who claims the united states as our country having calculated what each person has been obligated by his government to pay payi I 1 each staf states es pursued the figur share ing further to discover what each states share of this huge national debt is the tabulation that appears herewith is the result it gives the name of each state and that states proportionate share of the your state records do not show the amounts as a direct debt your state legislature did not vote the bonds which were sold in creating the debt but the fact remains that if it became necessary for each person to pay his share your state would pay the amount here set down alabama arizona arkansas california colorado connecticut delaware dist of columbia florida GO georgia idaho illinois indiana iowa kansas kentucky louisiana maine maryland massachusetts michigan minnesota mississippi missouri montana nebraska nevada new hampshire new jersey new mexico new york north carolina north dakota ohio oklahoma oregon pennsylvania rhode island south carolina south dakota tennessee texas utah vermont virginia washington west virginia wisconsin wyoming it if one desires to be technical and wishes to include in the national debt all of the obligations which the federal treasury may have to pay the figures I 1 have given will mount very much higher there are numerous agencies of the government that are empowered to borrow money on their own bonds institutions like the reconstruction finance corporation po ration and the home owners loan corporation and the commodity credit corporation it seems to me that when those agencies borrow money the federal government becomes I 1 liable in event the federal agency is is not able to pay and the total of those loans appears to be in the neighborhood of since most people regard the federal government as having a contingent liability there is some ground for including that total which would make the grand total of the national debt in excess of and each states share would be correspondingly higher what is the reason for this gigantic debt well anyone ought to know that when an in why this spends huge debt more than his income he goes into debt that is what this nation has been doing I 1 do not know hovi hov much longer it can continue to spend to waste money in pump priming it seems to me that the end will have to come very soon or people will refuse to buy bonds issued by the treasury the banks are loaded up with them now loaded so much that sen carter glass the veteran virginia member of the senate several times has said he feared what might happen if bond prices declined fundamentally there can be no doubt of the need to spend mone money y to feed the destitute on the other hand can there be any justification at all for billion after billion in building post offices national guard armories etc when there is none but borrowed money with which to do it every time an additional dollar is spent unnecessarily the future taxes on you and ad me e cohu our children and our childrens children s children are pledged to the payment of the debt pause to consider what it means if we calculated the average interest on the debt at 3 per cent which I 1 believe to be fair we find that if the nation pays off the current debt in years the taxes will have to be increased 33 per cent over 1938 1933 in order to do it if as further example the debt is to be paid off in 50 years the current tax rates will have to be increased by 38 33 per cent over that entire period those statements assume that we will not increase the general cost of government over what it is now and that tax receipts will be as high or higher it is apparent that spending must stop or our nation is going to be as much of a bum even in our estimation as the most lowly hobo who cats from a tin can and steals a ride on the rods of a 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