Our title: ‘The Profligate Generation’

Once again Congress must raise the debt ceiling or the government will default on its obligations. This scenario has occurred with regularity in recent years, and once it led to a government shutdown. Neither the Democrats nor the Republicans want that to happen, so the ceiling is likely to be raised again.

Why does the richest country in recorded history face this embarrassing situation so often? The answer is simple — the federal government spends far more than it receives in revenue. The obvious solution would be either to raise more revenue or reduce expenditures.

Unfortunately, this simple solution has eluded our elected representatives in Congress.

In fact, the situation has gotten worse. The national debt nearly doubled during President Obama’s eight years and now totals nearly $20 trillion. On a per capita basis, each American now owes roughly $260,000.

Aside from drastically cutting military expenses, President Obama showed little interest in balancing the budget. During his eight years he never came close to balancing a budget, and never seemed concerned about the issue. He and the Congress kept spending as if the source of money would never JAMES COOK GUEST COLUMNIST

end and the debts would never come due.

In stark contrast to his predecessor, President Trump submitted a budget that called for significant cuts in spending.

This was a radical departure, and the affected agencies immediately began arguing that the reductions would be catastrophic for the public.

As a result of such pressure, Congress very likely will restore most of the proposed cuts.

President Trump has said he would not touch the entitlements — Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Those three programs plus the interest on the debt constitute about 70 percent of the government’s expenditures. Thus, there is no way to balance a budget and begin to reduce the national debt without major reforms in those programs.

For years, intelligent people who have studied these issues have pointed out the need for substantial reforms. Congress has refused to act because such reforms would be unpopular. Raise the age for receiving Social Security benefits or reduce the payments, and the AARP will arouse millions of voters to protest.

Cut Medicare or Medicaid and critics will charge that Congress is heartless and is killing the poor and elderly. Lacking the courage to confront such opposition, Congress ignores the problem.

Unfortunately, time is running out. No country can practice deficit financing indefinitely.

Eventually, bills have to be paid or the whole system collapses. At the current rate, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid will run out of funds in a few short years. When that happens, drastic cuts will be made out of necessity.

Once again our elected officials have an opportunity to improve our national finances. Will they deal with reality, or will they continue to ignore the issue? Since Democrats want to increase spending and Republicans want to rebuild the military and cut taxes, the odds on balancing the budget this year are not promising.

A few years ago, Tom Brokaw wrote a book about the generation that survived the Great Depression and won World War II. He titled it, “The Greatest Generation.” Our generation has not faced a crisis like the Great Depression or World War II, but it has spent our children’s and grandchildren’s legacy and bequeathed a staggering debt to our successors. A book about our generation should be titled, The Profligate Generation.

In 1887, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, made some prophetic remarks about democratic government. “A democracy is always temporary in nature;” he wrote. It will exist until “voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury.” From then on, the majority will vote “for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the treasury.” The result is that “every democracy will finally collapse over loose fiscal policy.”

Professor Tyler estimated that the average age of the world’s greatest civilizations from the beginning of history had been about 200 years. The American form of government already has lasted 227 years.