What the President Said and What He Should Have Said

During his 2013 Inauguration speech, President Obama sounded a clear warning on the possible dangers of climate change.

"We, the people, still believe that our obligations as Americans are not just to ourselves, but to all posterity.  We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations.  Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling drought, and more powerful storms."

It's funny how the President can be so focused on the possible dangers of climate change, yet apparently so incredibly blind to obvious threats posed by massive overspending and deficits created by the federal government--a significant chuck added under his own supposed "leadership."  A bankrupt federal government will have ZERO hope of influencing environmental policy.

Here's what President Obama should have said.

We, the people, still believe that our obligations as Americans are not just to ourselves, but to all posterity.  We will respond to the threat of massive federal government indebtedness and overspending, knowing that the failure to acts betrays our children and future generations of Americans.  Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of basic economics, but none can avoid the devastating impact of annual trillion dollar deficits, an unsustainably-expensive social safety net, and large increases in inflation if we continue to borrow heavily from the Federal Reserve Bank.  Massive indebtedness, unless for an investment that will provide gain, is merely just postponed poverty. 

As a side note, here's a snippet from the Social Security and Medicare Trustees' Report, signed by three Obama Administration cabinet officials.

Projected long-range costs for both Medicare and Social Security are not sustainable under currently scheduled financing and will require legislative action to avoid disruptive consequences for beneficiaries and taxpayers. If lawmakers act sooner rather than later, they can consider more options and more time will be available to phase in the changes, giving the public adequate time to prepare. Earlier action would also help avoid adverse impacts on vulnerable populations, including lower-income workers and people dependent on program benefits.