David Minge: “this evening I wish to address this body with respect to the problem of our Nation's debt and how we responsibly handle…”

“this evening I wish to address this body with respect to the problem of our Nation's debt and how we responsibly handle this debt in a time of budget surpluses. We are indeed fortunate as Americans to have the robust economy that we have experienced over the last 8 years. It is unprecedented. We have had the strongest sustained period of economic growth in the 220 year history of the United States of America. At the same time, we have a record debt. I would like to begin my remarks by sharing with my colleagues an anecdotal story that is commonly used in my home State of Minnesota and it refers to two fictitious individuals named Oley and Lena. I happen to be of Scandinavian ancestry and one of my grandfathers was named Oley, so I do not know if it is my grandfather, but in any event, the story goes as follows. Oley got up one morning and Oley went outside to do his business in the outhouse. And as he pulled up his bib overalls, a couple of quarters fell out of his pocket and down into the hole. Well, Oley was disgusted. He took out his wallet, took off his watch and he threw them down the hole as well. Oley went back in the house and did not have much to say and Lena said after a while, well, Oley, what is wrong? Why do you not talk to me? Olie just said, humph. She kept pressing him. Finally, Olie shared with his wife Lena the account of what had happened out at the outhouse. Lena said, well, Olie that was a dumb thing to do.…”