BCT Editorial – 9/24/08

This page was last updated on September 27, 2008.

Taxing the future; Editorial; Beaver County Times; September 24, 2008.

The editorial subtitle is “Cost of bailout will fall on those who follow us.”

The editorial asserts, “The current financial meltdown is the result of an across-the-board failure of the federal government and American people to live within their means.” Note there was no mention of local and state government overspending. As a reminder, the only reason many local and state governments appear to live within their means is because of “grants” from the feds and/or the state.

The editorial also gives the impression that we’re the first to dump our debt on future generations. Unfortunately, that’s not true. For the history challenged, the so-called “Greatest Generation” dumped the burden (Medicare and Socialist Security) for their retirement on us as well as the burden for the so-called “Great Society” programs. Remember, today’s average family eventually turns over nearly 33% of its income to all levels of government (This is near the all time high of 34% in 2000.).

Though we’re just doing what we were taught, by no means does this justify us doing the same thing.