As of Aug. 29, the United States federal debt is $35.28 trillion. In 2022, the last year for which accurate numbers are known, the population of the United States was 333.3 million. Dividing the first number by the second, per-capita debt is more than $105,000. In other words, a baby born now owes more than $100,000 before receiving any government services.
It’s becoming increasingly common for politicians to provide services without raising taxes to pay for them, or for politicians to decrease taxes without decreasing services. During this election season, I’d like to know why politicians think these practices are acceptable.
Future generations of Americans will have their own wars and diseases to fight, disabled people to care for, and unpredictable problems that will be expensive to manage. Why do politicians think that future generations of Americans should have to pay for our problems in addition to their own?
— Peter Jensen
Anchorage
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