The U.S. Debt Load Is Bad for Kids

We're leaving future generations on the hook

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that the U.S. national debt now exceeds 100% of gross domestic product. As of earlier this year, “The government is spending $1.33 for every dollar it collects in revenue.” In historical terms, we haven’t seen debt levels this high since World War II.

And what is all the debt buying? It’s not to invest in the future. As I wrote last month, federal spending is mostly going toward retirees rather than children and young adults. And a big portion is going to pay down debt. In fact, about one in every seven dollars that the federal government spends now goes toward interest on the federal debt. So even if policymakers wanted to spend more money on children and families, we couldn’t afford it without making some trade-offs in other places.

Regardless, we’re expecting the children of today to pay off all this debt when they become working adults.

Reading List

Freakonomics: Ten Myths About the U.S. Tax System

The Reading Symphony: What She’s Doing at Home to Strengthen Her 2nd Grader’s Reading Skills

Joanne Jacobs: Focus on teaching kids to read, not fixing root causes

Lacey Beasley: After a cell phone ban, Dallas students are checking out a lot more books

Chalkbeat: Philadelphia Board of Education approves 17 school closures

Nora Gordon: Budget-makers often have no control over staffing levels or salary amounts

Matthew Yglesias: “Teachers’ work is important and should be well-compensated, but that means paying to retain the people who are good at it, not just arbitrarily paying more for whoever happens to have been in the job longest.”