8. DEBT, TAXES, AND THE CONSTITUTION Former Senator Schmitt
Warns of Unsustainable Consequences of Extreme National Debt and
Tax Burdens What are these people in Washington thinking?! Do
they believe the rest of us can’t count? Or don’t count! The
national debt already stood far too high at about 40% of gross
domestic product (GDP) in 2009. Now, the President proposes that
the FY2011 budget create a total national debt of at least $14.3
trillion, or about 70% of GDP! On top of this, he calls for $2
trillion in tax increases – the surest way to further sap the
strength of the economy, increase unemployment, and quickly
drive debt to over 100% of GDP and the country into another
Great Depression. Call this budget “the audacity of despair!”
How does massive national debt hurt? Let us count the ways. As
every family knows, debt limits “liberty and the pursuit of
happiness,” that, along with “life,” are “unalienable” natural
rights reserved to the people under the 9th Amendment to the
Constitution. Debt puts someo