Letter: National debt is unsustainable

In 2019, our national debt was $22.7 trillion which was 107% of GDP but this has skyrocketed to $30 trillion and 124% of GDP in January 2022. So, our national debt has increased by 27% in just two years and has been exceeding our economic output since 2014, when we first went over the 100% ratio level. Now Biden wants to forgive more student debt which will only further escalate our national debt and debt-to-GDP ratio which puts us at exceedingly worse economic risk.

The World Bank found that exceeding a 77% debt-to-GDP ratio is the default risk "tipping point" and every percentage point of debt above this level costs the country 0.017 percentage points in economic growth. Our GDP ratio has exceeded the 77% ratio since 1944 and exceeded the 100% threshold since 2014.

More alarming, it soared by more than 20 percentage points in just the last two years. Politicians on both sides have been spending beyond our limits for decades, but the Biden administration is taking us to unprecedented levels, at an alarming pace.

And why? The Herald's recent article said that Biden is trying to "galvanize" young voters. Really? Let's be clear, he and the Democrats are "buying votes," whatever the costs, to try and salvage a presidential victory out of the muck and mire this current administration is buried in, and us with them.

I know many restaurants and a relatively new grocery store in the area that cannot entice these same "young voters" to work. They are cutting hours, providing poorer service, losing business and current employees are over worked. A manufacturing plant in the Northeast is moving overseas because they cannot hire enough workers to meet customer demand.

All our politicians must stop "kicking the can" down the street, passing this debt issue onto future generations, and become fiscally responsible and do what all of us must do, live within our means.

Vince Heaton

Wheaton