Two Sides to the Coin

Fred Speno of Dallas wrote recently about the national debt and the hypocrisy of Republican Jeb Hensarling. He says that he'll believe the Republicans are serious about doing something about the debt as soon as they propose a 1% across-the-board tax on all stock market, bond market and commodities transactions. He says that's a simple solution that would wipe out our debt in no time.

Fred completely neglects the other side of the coin. I'm sorry to burst your bubble, Fred, but our national debt has not been accrued because we don't charge enough in taxes. Our national debt has been accrued because we spend too much.

Fred then throws out some figures, which he says, if correct, would reduce our debt to zero. But I don't think Fred's figures are correct. He says this tax would take in $878 billion a year. Our current national debt is $17.54 trillion. And we're adding to it more than $2 billion a day. So, by my calculation, it would take 20 years even if we weren't adding the extra $2 billion a day. If you consider the extra $2 billion a day, it will take just a little more than 118 years.

Sounds good, Fred.

"Small tax would erase debt." The Dallas Morning News; March 26, 2014; p. 18A.