Capping, Trading, and Stealing from our Children
Nicolas Loris /
Intergenerational theft. A complicated phrase that can simply be described as borrow money now, force our children and grandchildren to pay later. We’ve heard it with Social Security, Medicare and, most recently, with the massive stimulus spending bill.
We can now add cap and trade to the list. The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis found that the Waxman-Markey bill would increase inflation-adjusted federal debt by 26 percent.
Over the 2012-2035 timeline, the negative economic impacts accumulate, and the national debt is no exception. This is 26 percent increase is above what it would be without the legislation and represents an additional $28,800 per person, or more than $114,915 for a family of four. To reiterate, these burdens come after adjusting for inflation and are in addition to the $450,000 per family of federal debt that will accrue over this period even without cap and trade.
Reducing the debt burden our children will incur is a concern for many policymakers but the same policymakers are largely the problem. Economist Michael Munger says,
Keynes said that Y=C+I+G. Borrowing money to raise “G” (government spending) will work, I suppose. But the cost to future generations is enormous. I am amazed by the hypocrisy of both sides. John McCain calls the stimulus “intergenerational theft.” Well, he’s right, but he came late to this wisdom. The Republicans have been just pouring out new deficit spending since 2002.