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Federal government borrowing continues to grow to unprecedented levels, and no one seems to care ("Fix U.S. budget for short, long term," editorial, Jan. 12). We all are simply shrugging our shoulders, apparently waiting for it to become a crisis, and then maybe doing something about it. I am not an economist, only a certified public accountant who has been trained to deal with numbers as he sees them. I understand these numbers are so high now that they are almost incomprehensible to a normal human being, but they are becoming dangerously high. We can't wait until investors no longer want U.S. Treasury bonds or expect much higher interest rates because U.S. bonds are no longer considered "risk free." It will be too late. We, as citizens, must support significantly reducing (eliminating?) federal deficits. "Deficit" is a fancy word for spending more than we can pay for and there are only two ways to reduce deficits: increasing revenue and/or decreasing spending. Other approaches are at best wishful thinking or at worst misleading.
Please take some time to think about this and become a force for change. There is too much at risk not to.
Joseph D. Kenyon, Plymouth
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Getting the attention of the general public regarding the enactment of a short-term federal budget bill is not difficult when failure to do so can result in a government shutdown that has many negative and visible repercussions. But as the recent Star Tribune editorial points out, the impact of not dealing with the longer-term national debt presents myriad concerns that if ignored will provide a "pay me now or pay me later" scenario for the future that will only get worse the longer a solution is kicked down the road.
Cited are two important bills that deal directly with a potential solution to address a combination of additional revenue increases and spending cuts as part of a commission for this much-needed fiscal reform.
