Buy Votes, Spend Money and Increase the Debt

Democracy and Power 104: Future Debt Burden

A government debt is a government claim against personal income and private property – an unpaid tax bill. – Hans F. Sennholz,

All democracies institute programs for current voters and shift the debt to future workers, even the unborn.  Social Security, Medicare, prescriptions drug benefits for seniors are prime examples in America.

Buy Votes, Spend Money and Increase the Debt

President Obama is touring rural America.  The White House claims this is “official” and not a political campaign.  Of course Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois are very important states for Mr. Obama’s re-election. 

Similar to all politicians, the President panders to his audience.  The New York Times reports

Mr. Obama also spent a lot of time promoting his administration’s commitment to rural America, talking about plans to develop alternative fuels, erect windmills and extend broadband networks to remote farms.

More blatantly, the Obama administration released a report on increased health services for rural America.  Real Clear Politics reports

The Health and Human Services Department has funded 444 rural community health centers since 2009, serving more than 2 million patients in rural communities, including 598,601 patients without insurance. HHS provided $200 million to build or renovate 52 health centers in rural settings, where hospitals may be scarce or located hours away from patients.

— To help “millions of seniors” in rural areas, Medicare funded $66.2 billion in health care services since 2009.

— The new health law provides an estimated $52 million in enhanced reimbursement to 25 rural hospitals for inpatient services through an expansion of Medicare’s Rural Community Hospital Demonstration program.

— To help train close to 800 clinicians in rural areas where health care workers are needed but not always in ample supply, HHS awarded $4 million in special grants that will benefit 250 communities.

All these projects involve the federal government spending money.  Remember, DC is borrowing 40 cents on every dollar spent.  This adds to the debt, which is an unpaid tax bill.  Tomorrow’s workers will pay for today’s politicians’ devastating debts. 

Harmfully, most politicians, in all democracies – federal, state, local, and foreign, buy votes today and burden future workers.  The resulting high-taxes and excessive debt have caused severe economic stagnation in Greece, California, Ireland, New York and the United States of America.  Universally, every democracy has this problem. 

Again, We the People, must devise structures to end buying votes at the expense of our children and grandchildren. 

Support Cut, Cap and Balance.