Tune in to anyone ranting about the national debt and you will hear a load of bull about how it will destroy our children’s futures. Their words are meant to convey that spending on programs like Social Security, Medicare, or any type of program that helps citizens survive and prosper, is bad. Their arguments may sound reasonable, but are based on lies. When you use your crap detector, you can dig a little deeper and discount their information.
Government spending on programs that help people and build the economy actually decrease the national debt and create financial stability. Some very basic economic realities are evident. Ever hear of the Multiplier Effect? A simple way of understanding it is when John Q Citizen receives his paycheck—sometimes that paycheck comes from a government aid program—the money doesn’t disappear. In fact, as John pays his bills and buys his groceries, every dollar passes through multiple hands. Some economic textbooks say that the power of a dollar John spends passes to others in the local community at least 11 times. However, we know that almost every dollar in circulation keeps working an infinite number of times. Even if someone puts that dollar in the bank, the bank sends it back out again and it keeps working. If John buys a used car, or pays a medical bill, or gives it to his daughter to pay college tuition, that dollar is in play building the economy. Programs funded by the Infrastructure Bill put people to work and they in turn inject dollars into the economy. That’s healthy.
Those making the national debt into a scare tactic also leave out the effects of the taxes John pays back to the local, state, and federal governments on income. As John prospers, a small part of each dollar out working for John goes back into government hands where it can help others.
Understanding this basic law of economics can be verified by government policies that actually reduce the national debt. The exception to this is the effects of a tax system that does not return dollars to the greater community. Dollars that are taken out of circulation like those placed in offshore accounts, held by wealthy individuals avoiding paying their fair share, deprive the citizens of America of a government For The People.