Our Big Government Addiction Must End

Ernest Istook / August 05, 2011

As soon as the U.S. Treasury was cleared to start borrowing again, it
quickly borrowed $238 billion more and reached a milestone.  Our
national debt is now more than $14.5 trillion, which means that it has
surpassed the size of our total annual economy.

The federal government now owes more than is being produced by the entire
USA-every person, every company, every business, all in combination.

Financial markets figured out immediately just how disastrous it is to have
that level of debt-especially because it’s still growing and the budget plan
won’t stop that cancerous growth.  The stock market reaction is just another
symptom reminding us that Washington’s latest budget deal didn’t solve
anything.  Instead, it perpetuated an oversized government that spends too
much.

We now have a clear line drawn between two opposing philosophies.  There are
those who claim government isn’t doing enough, and that’s why our economy is
stalled out with millions out of work.

But the other side knows the real problem:  It’s that we’ve become addicted
to big government.  It’s that addiction that is making our economy sick and
is destroying the ability to get people back to work.

To fix our economy, we’ve got to break the big government habit.