The tipping point.

• Author: Emord, Jonathan W.
• Position: ECONOMIC OBSERVER - National debt and government spending policy

AS THE NATIONAL DEBT skyrockets beyond 16 trillion dollars, and the nation we know and love devolves into one alien to our recollection, crippled by regulation, as individual liberty becomes further endangered, Americans are left with feelings of exasperation and despair. What can we do?

Within the next decade, if government is not downsized substantially, it will succeed in destroying most productive elements of society, leading to greater economic downturns, a lower gross domestic product, and greater unemployment. As that happens, as the economic pie shrinks further, the national debt will grow at an even faster rate. Sooner or later, jittery creditor nations will demand a higher return on investment by imposing higher rates of interest on the money loaned to the U.S.--then the Federal government will print even more money, adding enormously to the pressure for a resurgence of inflation.

As the government's economic host (the private sector) dies, the government parasite, too, will die. The process will become most apparent when the value of Social Security payments becomes little more than a token of puny purchasing power. The process will become manifest when those who provide government services, such as Medicare physicians, refuse to do so because the economic value of government payment for the services cannot sustain them. The process will become obvious when the most productive in our society leave the country rather than accept the tax burdens a rapacious government imposes on them.

In short, unless dramatic reductions in spending occur, the whole monstrous government mess will come crashing down upon itself atop an economy in shambles. That clearly is where we are headed, and no serious observer doubts the direction even if he or she doubts the time within which it will happen or the extent of the calamitous results that will follow. If the president and Congress will not cut the government down to an affordable size, the typical American will suffer greatly. Indeed, the nation will be imperiled and will invite other powers in the world, jealous of the history of U.S. success, to exploit the opportunity to replace our firms in international markets and challenge our country militarily.

In this situation, those who are dedicated to saving the nation have a few options: we can align ourselves with other like-minded individuals and support political reforms to roll back government; vote and urge others to vote for candidates who...