Daniel Schaefer: “I have long supported a balanced budget amendment, because I believe that, unless we control the deficit, our Nation…”

“I have long supported a balanced budget amendment, because I believe that, unless we control the deficit, our Nation will soon face a fiscal crisis of unimaginable proportions. The Clinton administration has recently been crowing because the deficit will be only $171 billion next year. But as this chart shows, any benefit we gained from the Clinton tax increase will be very short-lived. Within only a few years, the deficit will pass its current level, and skyrocket on to new record highs. Well, those annual deficits mount year after year, adding to the public debt--which is simply all the deficits over the years added together. As everybody knows, if you borrow money, you have to pay interest. And the more you borrow, the more substantial the interest burden becomes. This chart illustrates just how vicious that cycle has become for our Federal Government. In 1970, about 16 cents of every dollar of personal income taxes went to servicing the national debt. Today, 40 cents out of every income tax dollar goes solely to pay interest on that debt. Every year that we run a budget deficit, the debt will continue to grow.”