On the Pratt on Texas Facebook page, I posted a graphic that makes out of control federal spending and the associated debt easy to understand in a way that relates to a person’s household budget. I don’t know who created the piece but it is simple and because of such, effective.
Several smart folk posted comments about it and a post by Michael Winegeart that spurred me to respond. Winegeart wrote: “I don’t know why more Americans don’t think this is a big deal. What is the debt service on our debt? At what point will the interest we are paying be too much?”
I responded with: “They have easy to understand numbers at home and yet vote to constantly increase debt and debt service costs by voting for school and municipal bonds. DC reflects the country as frightening as that is.”
Since the beginning of Pratt on Texas, I’ve used many examples of how those in Washington, DC, which we are all ready to pillory anytime and anyplace, are not much different from our local governments. In fact, we see the same irresponsible and arrogant behaviors in our towns, counties and school districts, even those with a conservative electorate, as we see from those in DC regularly.
Local officials constantly demonstrate that claims of their fiscal responsibility are empty but local voters ignore such and instead often promote them to state legislatures and to federal office. Then, years later those voters express shock at how the person has become “of-Washtington” or Austin.
How do we fix such? I’m not sure, but I do know that local press outlets often act the same as our national press when it comes cheerleading for spending so don’t expect many of them to warn you early.
Ignoring government spending & debt happens at all levels
Several smart folk posted comments about it and a post by Michael Winegeart that spurred me to respond. Winegeart wrote: “I don’t know why more Americans don’t think this is a big deal. What is the debt service on our debt? At what point will the interest we are paying be too much?”
I responded with: “They have easy to understand numbers at home and yet vote to constantly increase debt and debt service costs by voting for school and municipal bonds. DC reflects the country as frightening as that is.”
Since the beginning of Pratt on Texas, I’ve used many examples of how those in Washington, DC, which we are all ready to pillory anytime and anyplace, are not much different from our local governments. In fact, we see the same irresponsible and arrogant behaviors in our towns, counties and school districts, even those with a conservative electorate, as we see from those in DC regularly.
Local officials constantly demonstrate that claims of their fiscal responsibility are empty but local voters ignore such and instead often promote them to state legislatures and to federal office. Then, years later those voters express shock at how the person has become “of-Washtington” or Austin.
How do we fix such? I’m not sure, but I do know that local press outlets often act the same as our national press when it comes cheerleading for spending so don’t expect many of them to warn you early.