National Debt

DECIDING what to do with the budget surpluses is the major policy question facing this Congress. Projected surpluses of several trillion dollars over the next decade have created a clamor of demands: cut taxes, save Social Security, pay down the national debt, and increase education, transportation, job training and other federal programs.Congress' first priority should be ensuring continued economic growth. The best way to extend a steady recovery far into the next millennium is by paying down the $3.7 trillion in national debt.

Save water. Drink prune juice.If the U.S. Treasury actually wants to pay off the national debt, Congress should let it.Cheer up. Blacks are coming out for O'Malley, whites for Bell and Stokes.Candidate Bell has put forth no issues or position papers but he did send his goons to disrupt a rival's street theater, so that must be his message, his promise and who he is.Pub Date: 8/09/99

Republican tax cuts and Democratic spending increases are equally irresponsible until after they bring down the national debt.Now NASA wants to crash a space vehicle into the moon. The moon can't sue.When Mother Nature flushes the Jones Falls, she forgets to clean out the Inner Harbor.Psst, buddy, wanna live in the Bromo Seltzer Tower? You get to see ball games free and the Fire Department is just next door.

LAST WEEK President Clinton announced that U.S. budget surpluses would be $1 trillion more than expected over the next 15 years, enough to pay off the national debt by 2015. The closest the nation has been to being debt-free was in 1835, during Andrew Jackson's administration, when the debt was $33,733.05.How reliable are the economic projections on which the surplus forecast is based? What would be the impact of paying down and ultimately erasing the debt? What would it mean for economic growth?

YOUR rich uncle dies, leaving you a fortune that promises to grow much bigger in future years. You are awash in cash. What do you do?A) Toss money at every friend, relative and casual acquaintance.B) Sharply cut your spending.C) Pay off your mortgage, credit card debt and your car loan.If you are the Clinton administration, the correct answer is C. Republicans in Congress have selected answers A and B.We cast our vote for the common-sense approach: Use surplus funds to get out of debt. Discussion of bond repayment by the U.S. Treasury is one of the most encouraging -- and responsible -- fiscal developments in decades.

Monica should testify in the well of the Senate so the American people can see for themselves what Bill saw in her.First pay off the national debt, then argue what to do with surpluses.If we help subsidize Marriott for Montgomery County, maybe it will help pay for the channels and cranes to lure the big ships here.Don isn't in this job a week before he's angling to move on.Pub Date: 2/03/99

Any president proposing to reduce class size by one-third in Baltimore primary grades can't be all bad.Ending deficits means little. If they don't reduce the national debt and interest payments, they aren't doing anything.When Bill suggested Monica come up with a cover story, he didn't mean a Newsweek cover.Bombing Baghdad might not make us feel better for long, or Saddam feel worse.Pub Date: 2/04/98

PROJECTIONS of federal budget surpluses continue to grow and so does the inexorable urge among politicians to cut taxes.Even though the surpluses have yet to materialize, Republicans are calling for as much as $1 trillion in tax cuts over the next decade, an imprudent strategy.Recently, the normally cautious Congressional Budget Office knuckled under to GOP pressure and raised its projected federal surplus in the coming decade to $1.55 trillion from $671 billion. After decades of staggering deficits, this reversal is most welcome.

NOW THAT the United States must save Earth's economy, at least we possess talent equal to the job: the ability to hock ourselves to the scalp and consume like T. Rex at the brontosaur carryout.Keeping Asia out of a bad recession will require concentration, diligence and higher credit limits from the American people. We're up to it.We owe half a trillion dollars on our personal Visas and MasterCards, $5.5 trillion on our federal government's behalf and $3.7 trillion in home mortgages. We have to borrow $3 billion every week to fund our distending trade deficit.

Raise gas tax to pay national debtThe Dec. 4 letter, "Raise the fuel tax, lower the speed limit," was 100 percent correct.If future generation of Americans are going to enjoy this nation and planet, the love affair with the car has got to change.I say let's increase gas taxes by 10 cents a gallon per year until our national debt is paid. We have rebuilt our infrastructure and have good public transportation.I urge you to reprint the Dec. 4 letter and do a investigative report on its message.

While it is true that immigrants have helped to rescue and improve our economy in the past, it is not likely that more immigration would be a viable solution to today's economic woes. Jay Hancock's column "Immigrants can come to economy's rescue again" (Jan. 21) mentions the Polish, Russian, Irish, Italian and Greek immigrants who helped give strength to our economy. However, they arrived when we were an industrializing nation and jobs were very plentiful. A willing work force was needed, and these immigrants supplied it. In today's technological society, the opportunities for employment are not so great.

There's no way to spin it: 2008 was one tough year for the American economy. Rising unemployment, mortgage defaults, bank failures, stock market losses, rising personal and national debt, and a slow holiday shopping season were capped off by news of Wall Street investor Bernard L. Madoff's collapsed Ponzi scheme. Looking ahead, we are not facing another Great Depression, but the situation is pretty ugly. We have been relying on foreign credit too long. And now the federal government, in an effort to reinvigorate the economy and calm worried consumers, is about to go even further into debt to the tune of what may well exceed a trillion dollars.

So far, American taxpayers have put up $1 trillion to rescue banks and consumers who borrowed too much. Congress will almost certainly approve a stimulus package of $300 billion or so more. Total debt owed by the U.S. government just surpassed $10 trillion. The deficit for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1 should break a record. All this money appears to have tempered financial turmoil and plunging confidence, at least temporarily. But who will bail out the bailer? That might be the next president's biggest challenge.

WASHINGTON - Compounding terrible economic news, budget officials announced yesterday that the federal deficit has soared to a record $455 billion, injecting new urgency into the closing days of the presidential campaign about federal spending, including efforts to stem the financial crisis. The final accounting for fiscal 2008 produced a larger shortfall than had been projected, reflecting the start of federal efforts to address the economic emergency. It is certain to become a significant campaign issue, confronting presidential candidates with new questions about their growing slate of proposals for new spending and tax cuts at a time when red ink is surging.

WASHINGTON - Approaching their first debate about foreign and national security affairs, John McCain and Barack Obama are struggling for footing in an upturned world in which the United States, for the first time in its history, seeks to maintain global leadership with its economy in serious trouble at home. Tonight's presidential debate was to have focused on foreign and national security issues, but will almost certainly draw the two candidates' thoughts on how to surmount the financial crisis and refocus on threatening problems abroad.

A new economics documentary that explores rising gas, food and health care costs will be presented in theaters across the nation Thursday, including at the Bel Air Cinema 14 at 8 p.m. The live panel discussion will feature Warren Buffet, chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway; William Niskanen, chairman of the CATO Institute; Bill Novelli, CEO of AARP; and Dave Walker, president and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation and former U.S. comptroller...

As a case manager who has worked with disabled adults and seniors to help them remain safely in their communities for 25 years, I take issue with The Sun's editorial, "End discriminatory zoning" (June 5). The editorial starts from the premise that "under a long-standing city law, smaller group homes that serve ... disabled people need City Council approval before they open in neighborhoods." But no approval is required from the community or the council for group homes including up to four people, and a significant number of such homes now exist in Baltimore.

"Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt," Herbert Hoover quipped 80 years ago. Today, the United States has $9.4 trillion in federal debt and another $50 trillion in unfunded government promises to future generations. Some joke. What this represents is a fiscal millstone for future generations and a moral travesty for all of us. Many philosophers - and even some politicians - have recognized that social morality is ultimately about stewardship: preserving a good world for future generations.

Tax cuts do more to stimulate growth Donald J. Boudreaux hits the economic nail on the head with his column "Forgo the foolishness of economic `stimulus'" (Opinion Commentary, Jan. 27). He is totally correct that "government cannot create genuine spending power." Short-term tax credits of $300 to $1,200 will do nothing but boost big-screen TV sales. On the other hand, reductions in corporate tax rates would encourage foreign investment and allow domestic companies to hire more workers.

Ross Perot became a household name and tipped the 1992 presidential race to Democrat Bill Clinton by warning voters of a huge national debt he said politicians were ignoring like the "crazy aunt nobody in the family wants to talk about." Fourteen years later, U.S. Comptroller General David M. Walker is taking a similar message to the hustings. He lacks Mr. Perot's folksy flair, but his warning is more dire. In 1992, the federal debt was $4 trillion. Now it's $9 trillion and set to double over the next two decades.