"What’s even worse than this unconscionable track record is Washington’s devil-may-care attitude about it. Few in Congress (and nobody in the White House) seem to mind. The typical politician cuts nothing and proposes nothing except trillions more in spending and debt."
“ 'We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt,” warned Thomas Jefferson in 1816. To him, burdening ourselves and future generations with debt should be rare in frequency and minor in magnitude. It may be defensible for long-term capital projects like roads, but for little else.
"Massive, uncontrollable debt to finance current consumption spending was unthinkable to Jefferson. He would undoubtedly see it as a reflection of a nation’s moral and economic decline that could ultimately destroy our liberties.
"One state Jefferson would be proud of is Montana. Though the universities and the housing board carry a small amount of debt, that state’s general obligation bonds, which totaled $215 million in 2016, have all been paid off or otherwise removed as liabilities. Citizens in “progressive” states like New York and California, on the other hand, are on the hook for thousands of dollars of debt per capita.
"If he could pay us a visit today, Jefferson would likely rake those high-debt states over the coals for their fiscal recklessness. But I think no words in the English language would adequately describe his reaction to the federal government’s debt, though apoplectic might come close." . . .
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