Union official in deep, deep denial
They say that breaking through denial is the first step to recovery. If that's the case, than AFL-CIO chief Richard Trumka has long ways to go, because as you'll see in this clip, his denial about the deficit runs deep.
The national debt is currently $13.3 trillion and counting. Anyone who thinks that isn't a problem hasn't been paying attention.
Also of note is this great column by Dustin Siggins, who introduces an important term - the "Debt Paying Generation."
In the near future, The Heritage Foundation's Bill Beach and I will officially introduce the soon-to-be-important term "The Debt-Paying Generation," (DPG) a term that all Americans should become familiar with. It is the financial future of America, and not a pretty one at that.Read the whole thing.
What is the DPG? It is those Americans who are presently between 5 and 30, and will be hardest hit from childhood through death by the debt irresponsibility in Washington. According to calculations broken down from Census Bureau data, the DPG is approximately 35% of the total American population, and currently stands at 108,670,000. Given expected life spans- nearly 80 years old on average, and having increased an average of three years since 1990- it is not impossible to believe that the DPG will be the longest-lived generation in American history.
Why is this age group being named the "Debt-Paying Generation?" Well, primarily because this generation will almost certainly have to pay down most of our national debt through higher taxes, which almost certainly will relegate them to the status of being the first generation of Americans to live a worse life than its immediate predecessors. Additionally, to rub salt in the wound, the big three entitlement programs-Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid-will have to be cut and, thus, will pay less to the Debt Paying Generation than the Boomers.
