While there are ways to offset costs with financial aid, jobs, and loans, The Economist reported in June 2014 that U.S. student loan debt exceeded $1.2 trillion, with over 7 million debtors in default. Public universities increased their fees by a total of 27% over the five years ending in 2012, or 20% adjusted for inflation.
Here's one of the wildest reports from a NY Times article November 2015. Something startling is happening to middle-aged white Americans. Unlike every other age group, unlike every other racial and ethnic group, unlike their counterparts in other rich countries, death rates in this group have been rising, not falling. There is declining health and fortunes of poorly educated American whites. In middle age, they are dying at such a high rate that they are increasing the death rate for the entire group of middle-aged white Americans. The mortality rate for whites 45 to 54 years old with no more than a high school education increased by 134 deaths per 100,000 people from 1999 to 2014.
College education is not only vital to an individual's future but to our nation and its vitality, growth and economy. Will your progeny be able to afford higher education and live in an educated America?
Debt Crisis -- "Last week (December 2014), the national debt surpassed $18 trillion. That's $124,000 for each American household or $56,378 per individual. It took the country 205 years to accumulate its first trillion dollars of debt in 1981, but has only taken us 403 days to accumulate our most recent trillion. Last year, the U.S. spent $430 billion on interest payments alone. This means that every year, tax payers are spending $3,500 just on interest payments. This is money that isn't going to pay for roads, bridges, education, medical research or defense."
It gets scarier. National debt interest rates are historically low at the moment -- around 2.5 percent. When they rise, interest payments will rise exponentially thanks to the wonders of compounding rates. Say interest rates rise to 5 percent -- still low by historical standards. That means we will owe nearly $1 trillion a year in interest alone. That's about two-thirds of what the federal government brings in each year in total income tax revenue!
There are actually different views of debt. There are some who say all debt is bad and some who believe while debt can be a problem, the way our politicians and pundits think about debt is all wrong, and exaggerates the problem's size. For example, it has been said that while families have to pay back their debt, Governments don't -- all they need to do is ensure that debt grows more slowly than their tax base. There are few solutions to debt, primarily reduce spending or increase revenues.
Paul Krugman, yes, a liberal, has said, "nations with stable, responsible governments -- that is, governments that are willing to impose modestly higher taxes when the situation warrants it -- have historically been able to live with much higher levels of debt than today's conventional wisdom would lead you to believe.
Of course, America, with its rabidly anti-tax conservative movement, may not have a government that is responsible in this sense. But in that case the fault lies not in our debt, but in ourselves.
So yes, debt matters. But right now, other things matter more. We need more, not less, government spending to get us out of our unemployment trap. And the wrongheaded, ill-informed obsession with debt is standing in the way."
Conservatives on the other hand, "eschew tax increases in favor of cuts to entitlement programs and other spending." Essentially, defense accounts for 22% of our budget, health care gets 27% (mostly Medicare and Welfare), pensions 25% (mostly social security), education 4%, welfare 10%, interest 6%, all other 6% and includes transportation and protection at 2% each.
There are two questions that I think need answers. How do we want to treat people who cannot or even will not take care of themselves? Do we want to maintain a social safety net as it exists today for our progeny? Perhaps there are savings to be had but we get very little exposure to real information on what to cut, why and how. We get generalized proposals or drastic changes like a "voucher system." It is clear to me that vouchers will not cover the cost of medical insurance over time though that's separate discussion.
After 30 years, I now get a stipend from the company I worked for to cover some costs beyond Medicare. When I retired and reached the age of 65 instead of a stipend I was to have excess coverages paid for directly by the company. They changed their approach after a number of years to a stipend I assume because of the rising costs. Now I have deductions from my checking account or charges to my credit card or deductions from social security up to 4 times a month. I also get deposits to my checking account several time a month until the stipend runs out in about September. The paperwork is enormous and the costs keep going up and more than inflation so my costs may go up by 50% or much more in 10 or so years while the stipend remains constant. (After all, it's about the shareholders.) What will happen to you with a "voucher system" and will there even be Medicare or Social Security for your progeny? Perhaps you need to think about this when you vote for your representatives.
Infrastructure -- In an article in Forbes in April 2015 it said, "Today's infrastructure is not only inefficient it costs us more than $200 billion a year in emergency costs.
HIGHWAYS, BRIDGES & WATERWAYS -- According to the Federal Highway Administration's Bridge Inventory, 146,633 out of 604,474 bridges in the United States are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. The American Society of Engineers (ASCE) published a study that makes the point that underinvestment of the system will cost the households and businesses $130 billion per year in emergency repairs, vehicle operating costs, travel delays."
WATER & SEWER SYSTEMS -- Despite how critical drinking water and sanitation are for public health, many of these underground systems have reached or exceeded their operational life and need to be repaired or replaced. According to the Center for American Progress, there are 240,000 water main breaks per year, and "as much as 20 to 25% of the treated water that enter the distribution system is lost due to leakage."
After clean water is used by consumers and businesses it must be cleaned and treated as wastewater in 14,780 waste water treatment plants and discharged through 800,000 miles of sewer pipes. The capacity of this system has been exceeded and "every year there are 75,000 over flows in the U.S., discharging approximately 900 billion gallons of untreated sewage into lakes, rivers, and streams." A report by the American Water Works Association estimates it will take $1 trillion dollars to repair or replace the drinking water system over 25 years. Drinking water emergency repairs -- $3 billion per year.
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