Kendra S. Horn: “Today I want to continue the discussion of the debt, deficits, and balanced budgets. This is a true debt speech. Some of…”

“Today I want to continue the discussion of the debt, deficits, and balanced budgets. This is a true debt speech. Some of the debt you hear about is only part of the debt. We are going to get into the unfunded liabilities again and what is really out there for ourselves, our children, and our grandchildren. "Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt," said President Herbert Hoover in a statement made in jest over six decades ago. Today the young, the old, and those of us in between have a significantly lower standard of living than we should have. Why is that? Federal deficits and unfunded promises have eaten away at the investment capital, the seed capital, if you will, that America needs to grow. In the first chart here, we look at family income with and without deficits between 1980 and 1996. If Congress and the President for the last 26 years had run the country as most of us have run our family finances--matching what we earn to what we spend--an average family would have had at least $5,000 more to spend each year; that is, roughly $100 per week. Or they could also have paid a lower rate of interest on their home and their car. With 2 percent savings in interest, a $100,000 mortgage payment on a house would be $2,000 less each year, or nearly $200 per month, and greatly improved family job opportunities would have resulted from that.”