Gilbert Gutknecht: “I think sometimes when we talk about $5.5 trillion and $1.7 trillion and all of this interest and all of these numbers…”

“I think sometimes when we talk about $5.5 trillion and $1.7 trillion and all of this interest and all of these numbers and all of these statistics, I think sometimes people do sort of tune out and they say, well, you know, that is green-eye-shade accounting stuff and it does not really matter in my life. But the point I make is that the debate about balancing the budget, the debate about ultimately paying off that national debt is really a debate about what kind of a future we are going to leave to our kids. I mean, is it going to be a future of hope, growth, and opportunity, or is it going to be a future of debt and dependency? We have made some real progress. What does $5.5 trillion in debt mean? If you divide that up by the number of Americans, 270 million Americans in this country, it works out to over $20,000 for every man, woman, and child. My wife Mary and I have 3 children. If we multiply our family of 5, that means we have a debt hanging over our heads larger than the mortgage on our home. Now, we might say, well, but we do not have to pay that. Yes, we do. The interest has to be paid.”