THURSDAY, 10/2/2008 © Citiwire.net
Lost in the election scramble, bank rescues and heated debate over government bailouts is the simple fact that American needs to rebuild its wealth — we’re busted. The national debt grows to over $9.8 trillion and climbs rapidly while the current $407 billion federal deficit has nowhere to go but up as the federal government grapples with a teetering national economy. The next president will struggle to recapitalize the country while hundreds of billions of dollars go each year just to service our prodigious national debt. For all the belt-tightening talk, eliminating $16.5 billion in annual earmark expenditures would make only a minor dent in the huge federal deficit. So what do we do — when our Treasury registers empty and we confront so many other challenges? In the first presidential debate, both candidates conveniently sidestepped the hard choices they will face. John McCain suggested a possible spending freeze and Barack Obama admitted some of his big ticket plans may need to be shelved for at least a while. At least, Obama made passing reference to rebuilding the country’s increasingly dated and inadequate infrastructure as an important priority. In fact, a retooled national infrastructure will be an essential part of the solution to maintaining our economic clout and future prosperity, while providing the needed stimulus of a near-term jobs engine.
http://citiwire.net/post/262/