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Deal with the debt

The $21.2 trillion national debt today is worrisome enough. But it is going to get worse, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

You may want to sit down for this: Within 30 years, the national debt will top $100 trillion if nothing changes, the CBO predicts.

That would amount to more than $300,000 each for every man, woman and child in our country now.

How would this disaster occur? CBO analysts made it plain: Tax revenue will increase only slightly during the next third of a century. Meanwhile, government spending will continue to grow.

Thoughtful Americans have worried about deficit spending for many years. Politicians often say it is a major concern.

But then Congress and presidents of both major political parties do nothing. Some liberals decry tax cuts for their effect on the debt — but when it comes to cuts in federal spending, they adopt an over-my-dead-body position. Conversely, some legislators who decribe themselves as fiscally conservative are more than willing to cut taxes to gain votes but not cut deficit spending.

Unless something is done quickly to reduce the imbalance between spending and revenue, the situation 30 years from now will be a tragedy for our children and grandchildren.

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