What Would The Founders Say About Our Multi-Trillion Dollar Debt?

From Peter Reagan at Birch Gold Group

 

“No pecuniary consideration is more urgent, than the regular redemption and discharge of the public debt: on none can delay be more injurious, or an economy of time more valuable.”

George Washington, 1793

The total national debt was a little less than $5 trillion at the beginning of Bill Clinton’s first term as President (January 1993).

That was exactly 200 years after Washington issued his warning about public debt, quoted above. Unfortunately, his warning was ignored.

Since 1993, through entire presidencies on both sides of the aisle, the debt has grown nonstop almost seven times over (600%). The most current official figure is $34.6 trillion as of the end of the first quarter of 2024.

You can see both the debt’s growth rate, and the irresponsible acceleration of that growth that has taken place since 2008, reflected on the graph below (source):

Now debt is considered a national security risk. But it wasn’t always like that. In fact, our country actually did repay its debts in full, at least once:

In 1836, Americans celebrated when the United States repaid the last of its debts incurred to finance the War of Independence, the Louisiana Purchase, the War of 1812, and the Panic of 1819.  The sacrifices of America’s first generation transformed the world’s first modern democracy into the first major debt-free nation. American willingness to reserve its credit for emergencies became a pillar of the nation’s exceptionalism.

The Founders and immediate generations that followed would all be furious if they saw what has transpired 250 years after the sacrifices they made. After all, they tried hard to warn us for decades after the ink dried on the founding documents of this country.

With that in mind, let’s see some of what they had to say about this nation’s debt, as we think about the freedoms we have enjoyed…

“Public Debt Is a Public Curse”

Not all of the Founders were against leveraging the national debt. According to the Heritage Foundation, Alexander Hamilton thought the United States could keep the debt’s “tab” low enough so it wouldn’t create problems in the future:

Hamilton convinced Congress to assume all state debt that remained from the Revolution. That would require the new national government to run in the red, but Hamilton was not worried. “A national debt, if it is not excessive,” he argued, “will be to us a national blessing.”

That said, if Hamilton saw today’s debt figure, he probably wouldn’t be able to comprehend it (the debt was millions back then).

That’s probably why James Madison considered the national debt a “public curse” in a letter to Henry Lee in 1790:

I have recd. your reflections on the subject of a public debt with pleasure—in general they are in my opinion just and important. Perhaps it is not possible to shun some of the evils you point out, without abandoning too much the reestablishment of public credit. But as far as this object will permit I go on the principle that a Public Debt is a Public curse and in a Rep. Govt. greater than in any other.

The “curse” of public debt that Madison was referring to will likely continue to take its toll for generations to come.

Thomas Jefferson thought that every generation should pay its debts as it continued operating, and if that succeeded, that the number of wars could be reduced:

It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world.

It’s hard to imagine what Jefferson would think if he were able to time-travel to 2024 and see how many generations haven’t paid their debts.

Benjamin Franklin warned us that piling up debt could allow the elite class to leverage it against your natural rights as a free citizen in this country:

“Think what you do when you run in debt: you give another power over your liberty.”

The power shift that Franklin was warning us about is already happening. It has arrived in the form of unnecessarily higher taxes that pay for endless wars and persistent inflation thanks to insane Government spending.

Returning to Thomas Jefferson, he had the foresight to understand that the “leadership” class might reach into the national coffers to prop up their political careers:

Thomas Jefferson, reading the document in Paris, asked Madison to devise an amendment that would prevent future American leaders disguising the cost of government during their time in office through borrowing. He understood that leaders would be tempted to borrow to enhance their short-term popularity, while burdening a future generation by encumbering future federal tax revenues with debt.

We are burdened in that way now, just as Jefferson predicted centuries ago. Janet Yellen’s recent campaigning for another Biden term comes to mind.

But the burden is much heavier than you might think. It also includes the Fed’s fiat currency debasement, the Government’s insane spending sprees, and now interest payments in service to trillions of dollars in debt.

Keeping everything above in mind, it might be wise to look for a way out.

One Way to Declare Your Independence from Dollar-Based Debt

“Paper is poverty, it is only the ghost of money, and not money itself.”

Thomas Jefferson (source)

While you’re thinking about your independence, now would be a great time to consider diversifying your savings with an asset that the Founding Fathers would have recognized as money in their day.

But you might want to consider doing it quickly, while your paper money is still worth enough to buy what you need.

I’m talking, of course, about physical gold and silver. We’ve devoted an entire web page to these inflation-resistant investments right here.

By making the right moves now, you have an opportunity to put yourself in a potentially better financial position for the future through proper diversification of your retirement dollars into assets that won’t ever be considered a “ghost.”

With global instability increasing and election uncertainties on the horizon, protecting your retirement savings is more important than ever. And this is why you should consider diversifying into a physical gold IRA. Because they offer an easy and tax-deferred way to safeguard your savings using tangible assets. To learn more, click here to get your FREE info kit on Gold IRAs from Birch Gold Group.

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