Foreign Critics of US Government Spending Should Rethink Their Opinions

Foreign critics envious of America’s robust consumption and spending are taking some pleasure in seeing America struggle through its current financial crisis. However, as they celebrate our misfortune they should realize that they too have benefited from our excesses and if the golden goose dies, they too will do without its seemingly endless generosity.

By all historical measures, America is straining its purse strings. Current budget deficit and government spending estimates as a percentage of GDP are 12% and 28% respectively, and are unacceptably high levels not seen since World War II. US debt as a percentage of GDP is currently 45% and is projected to nearly double in the next ten years.

America is particularly fortunate that its sovereign friends around the world are willing and able to lend us the money we need to sustain our nation. But those lenders are being more than fairly compensated for their support. China, Japan and other nations lend us money by buying our interest-paying bonds, the most risk-free investment available, all to give us the wherewithal to buy their exports and pay for, among other things, the one trillion dollars the US spends annually to maintain the peace and security of the planet we all share. That security provides the backdrop of certainty and confidence that all the world’s nations need to grow their economies, trade freely and ultimately improve their quality of life. As such it should be obvious that our lenders have as much at stake as we do. Don’t you wish you could lend money to our government virtually risk free, instead of paying income taxes, for the services you receive?

Additionally, the US spends by far more than any other nation on global humanitarian endeavors. Even our enemies that engage us in warfare are compensated in defeat. After World War II, America practically rebuilt Europe and Japan. Plans for how America will rebuild Iraq began almost simultaneously with the war itself several years ago. Currently there are serious discussions about building infrastructure in Afghanistan as part of a strategy to achieve a victory there. Don’t you wish your conquering enemies were as kind to you?

Everyone should be rooting for America to get its fiscal house in order for our sake, and for the sake of our friends and our enemies.