Recommended: US Debt from the Founder's Perspective

George Friedman of STRAFOR has, yet again, produced an insightful article: US Debt from the Founder's Perspective. He argues that the founders of our nation, always concerned about the growth of the sort of government tyranny that ruled Europe in their time, deliberately constructed a nation in which government moved slowly, with authority divided among many competing groups , the central government, the courts, and state and local authorities, so that they would act as checks on each other. From their perspective, the sort of gridlock currently in evidence in Congress is good - if there isn't consensus on what ought to be done, than better nothing should be done until some consensus can be reached.  In that respect the current impasse isn't a failure, but the passage of ObamacCare by brute force political hardball in the face of majority public opposition was a failure.

With respect to the US debt, he argues to the founders debt was not an economic issue but rather a moral one. It would be unthinkable to fail to pay back a debt one owes as a matter of moral obligation.  But it would be just as unthinkable to assume a debt without any plan or prospect of paying it back. They would no doubt be appalled at the debt we have accumulated, and the purposes to which we have put that borrowed money.