Editor, Gazette-Journal:

We cannot help but take note of the prolific spending that is taking place in Washington. With $19 trillion already spent in the past 12 months, the administration is about to launch a $1.9 trillion so-called infrastructure spending spree that includes support for climate regulations, diversity mandates, child care, as well as support for Planned Parenthood. Where all of this money to support this level of spending is to come from was not a topic of discussion.

During President Biden’s State of the Union address, he proposed an additional $5 trillion in spending. All of this prolific spending portends a coming bout with inflation, if not hyperinflation, that will likely exceed anything that we have thus far experienced.

With spending and debt creation at an all-time high, the current on-balance sheet debt of $28.1 trillion is 130 percent of GDP. However, off-balance sheet debt, that of unfunded liabilities consisting of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, is estimated to add another $100 trillion-plus to the total debt load.

Unfortunately, the current spending will substantially increase the cost of servicing the debt. For every 1 percent of increase in the interest rate, approximately $1 billion is added to debt service cost.

Just as in the Great Depression and numerous other economic crises, the poor and middle class in America have borne the brunt of such reckless spending. Asset prices will collapse while taxes increase along with ever-greater debt levels.

While there are other alternatives to a hyperinflationary collapse, those alternatives require sacrifice and discipline. Unfortunately, both attributes appear to be in short supply within the Washington establishment. The question is not if we will suffer an economic reckoning, the question is when.

Andrew Maggard
Port Haywood, Va.