LETTER: Factor U.S. debt into your vote

With all the smoke, chatter, and mirrors thrown up over the coming election, overriding everything is one word: DEBT. In just 7 1/2 years, Barack Obama has managed to double the federal debt, adding more debt in his two terms than all other presidents combined since our founding! To put this into perspective, so that there can be no doubt what this means to our future:

* U.S. tax revenue: $2,170,000,000,000

* Federal budget: $3,820,000,000,000

* New debt: $1,650,000,000,000

* National debt: $19,271,000,000,000

* Recent budget cuts: $38,500,000,000

Let’s now remove eight zeros and pretend it’s a household budget:

* Annual family income: $21,700

* Money the family spent: $38,200

* New debt on the credit card: $16,500

* Outstanding balance on the credit card: $192,710

* Total budget cuts so far: $38.50

So, when a candidate calls for more spending, always couched as “investment,” understand what a disaster this is for our country. Only two choices then remain: The federal government defaults on repayment, or prints enough money to make the payment. Germany tried the latter in 1921-1924. Google “Germany hyperinflation,” and you will get the picture. —Nick Chickering, Whitefish