Cuts have been tried

Country A owes $16 trillion and country B owes $240 billion. Which country owes the most?

Most people would say country A. That’s wrong. Country B owes the most.

Country A has an income of $16 trillion and country B has an income of $200 billion. A country’s income is its gross domestic product (GDP). Economists look at GDP to compare one country’s debt with another’s. Country A has a $16 trillion GDP, making its debtto-GDP ratio 100 percent. Country B has a $200 billion GDP, making its debt-to-GDP ratio 120 percent. Percentage-wise, country B owes more than country A.

Country A is the United States today. Country B was the United States in 1945. While our debt today is a lot, it was more in 1945. The difference is that we did not have a Tea Party wanting to cut spending in 1945. That old dog just would not hunt any more. We had tried that in 1937, causing a recession, and, before that in the Hoover administration (1929-1933), which helped make the depression of 1929 into the Great Depression of the 1930s. President Herbert Hoover lost the election of 1932 to tax-and-spend President Franklin Roosevelt.

In the year 2080, I believe we will look back at a $16 trillion national debt the same way we, today, look back on a $240 billion debt in 1945. That was nothing.

If our economy keeps growing at the rate it has since 1945, our GDP will be over $1,250 trillion in 2080, but only if we invest in our future: our children’s education through college, science and technology, infrastructure and put everybody back to work. RUUD DuVALL

Fayetteville