The Immoral Generation

In 1998, former NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw wrote a best-selling book entitled The Greatest Generation. The book describes the generation of which my parents were a part. According to the dust jacket of the book, it tells the stories of “America’s citizen heroes and heroines who came of age during the Great Depression and the Second World War and went on to build modern America. This generation was united not only by a common purpose, but also by common values—duty, honor, economy, courage, service, love of family and country, and, above all, responsibility for oneself.”

It’s hard to believe how much has changed in a generation. Through hard work and sacrifice, The Greatest Generation built a great country for subsequent generations to enjoy. My generation inherited freedom, prosperity, values, and opportunity from The Greatest Generation, but we are rapidly destroying these invaluable gifts. Regrettably, my generation could—and probably should—be referred to by historians as “The Immoral Generation.”

There are many reasons why I think “The Immoral Generation” is an appropriate label for my generation. One of the primary reasons is the massive amount of debt being incurred today by the federal government with full knowledge the debt will have to be repaid by our children and grandchildren. It would be reckless and immoral for me to borrow money to finance an extravagant lifestyle with knowledge that my children and grandchildren would have to repay my debts following my death. This is exactly what my generation is doing by tolerating the federal government’s spending splurge. We are robbing our children and grandchildren of their future because we are unwilling to live within our means today.

The current indebtedness of the federal government exceeds $12.3 trillion, and it is expanding at a breath-taking pace. Click on the following link for a shocking display of the federal government’s immorality:

http://www.usdebtclock.org/

The federal government’s indebtedness is increasing at an alarming rate because the government continues to incur massive budget deficits year after year. The budget deficit this year is estimated to be $1.6 trillion. The government will incur another deficit of $1.3 trillion next year, and this assumes Congress has the will to reduce funding for certain programs, which is unlikely. Brian M. Riedl, an analyst for The Heritage Foundation, estimates that the federal government will add “an astonishing $16.3 trillion in new debt between 2009 and 2020--$130,000 per household over those 12 years.”

When the federal government reports the amount of its debt, it does not include an estimated $100 trillion or more in unfunded liabilities under the Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other government retirement programs. These unfunded liabilities represent promises made by the government to its citizens that the government in all likelihood will be not be able to fulfill.

The federal government has acted irresponsibility for years under both the Democratic and the Republican administrations. The current spending splurge under President Obama, however, is completely unprecedented. Our government has gone from being irresponsible to being immoral. Our children and grandchildren will face massive tax increases in order to pay for the money we are spending today.

In a recent article for American Thinker, Peter Marin wrote, “It’s time for Americans to realize that the good times have stopped rolling. There may be no return to a robust economy. Our future can take only one of two possible paths; either we accept our unsustainable debt and reduce government spending and taxation accordingly with a structured refinancing of the Federal debt, or face the prospect of a chaotic bankruptcy with a massive collapse of the dollar on the world market followed by a severely reduced standard of living. If it's any indication of the way government has approached past difficulties, I'm betting on the chaotic. Stagflation on a large scale may well make the 1970's look like high times. Job losses that will occur may well make the 1930's look like a picnic.”

In addition to the huge burden that will fall on our children and grandchildren, the federal government’s massive indebtedness is threatening our national security. In a column written for The Wall Street Journal earlier this week, Gerald F. Seib identified the following four ways the government’s budget deficits are threatening our national security:

(1) Our budget deficits make America vulnerable to foreign pressures. Mr. Seib observed that the federal government is dependent on the largesse of foreign creditors. “A foreign government, through the actions of its central bank, could put pressure on the U.S. in a way its military never could.”

(2) Chinese power is growing as a result of our huge budget deficits. Mr. Seib noted a lot of our debt is being purchased by China, which is “slowly increasing Chinese leverage over American consumers and the American government.”

(3) Our national security budgets are at risk. Mr. Seib wrote, “These national-security budgets have been largely sacrosanct in the era of terrorism. But unless the deficit arc changes, they will come under pressure for cuts.”

(4) Finally, Mr. Seib said the “American model is being undermined before the rest of the world,” which is “the great intangible impact of yawning budget deficits.” He wrote that the “image of an invincible America…..made other countries listen when Washington talked” and “often—not always, of course, but often—made other peoples and leaders yearn to be like America.”

It is hard to escape the conclusion that our immorality not only is transferring a huge burden to our children and grandchildren but also is threatening the very future of our country as a sovereign nation. In a few short years, The Immoral Generation has replaced The Greatest Generation.