From the political drumbeat of the day you would think the only problem facing present and future generations is the lack of a balanced budget.
Ignored are poverty and lower living standards for millions of Americans because of inadequate education and job training and not enough good-paying jobs. These conditions also relate to crime and drug use where there is a willingness to spend more on prisons but not on giving people a better way to go.
Ignored, too, are ever-rising health-care costs and lack of coverage for millions of citizens and environmental degradation like ozone depletion, global warming and pollution of air, water and soil.
Measured as a percentage of gross domestic product, national debt is much lower than right after World War II and lower than in most of Europe’s top industrialized countries.
A sense of community is produced by programs that serve the needs of ordinary people, but conservatives are using budget deficits as a hammer to bash these programs while saying little about corporate welfare and a Cold War level of military spending.
It would be a Pyrrhic victory to balance the budget amidst social deterioration–more poverty, crime and pollution.
