National debt not so trivial

A bit of trivia: The Institute for Truth in Accounting, based in Northbrook, reminds us "It took the country from George Washington until Ronald Reagan - about 200 years - to reach the first trillion in debt." Have you noticed that since taking office, marathon spender George Bush has been able to add to the national debt $3.6 trillion in less than eight years? No wonder recently retired David Walker, the chief auditor of the United States, said when referring to our current fiscal policy, "We have been diagnosed with fiscal cancer."

Also, the institute notes our real national debt isn't $9.3 trillion, but rather it is $54 trillion. The government runs on a cash basis of accounting and doesn't account for unfunded future liabilities. The institute says, "All the taxes you pay, including social security, are used for today's government services and benefits, not saved for the future." The institute quotes the government's Office of Management and Budget: "There are no economic assets in the Social Security Trust Fund." In other words, no monies are held in trust for future liability payouts.

And people wonder why the dollar continues to decline in value and why there is so much talk about the euro replacing the dollar as the world standard. Maybe this isn't trivia, even though we treat it that way. But then again, it must be trivial or wouldn't people be concerned, and wouldn't our presidential candidates be talking about it?

Leo A. Dietrich

Lake Villa