The current national debt limit stands at $14.3 trillion, and we’re scheduled to hit that limit next week. That means we as a nation owe creditors, many of them in countries like China and Saudi Arabia, $14.3 trillion. And yet apparently that’s still not enough, because we again need to raise the nation’s credit limit.

Really, people? $14.3 trillion in debt isn’t enough? For God’s sake, the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) is $14.12 trillion. We now owe to the world more than the value of all goods and services as as a nation produce in an entire year. We owe investors nearly the GDP of all of Europe. And that’s not enough? We need more?

Keep in mind: We don’t have to raise the debt ceiling in order to pay off current debt. We would have the money to meet current obligations if only we cut spending. No, instead we’re talking about adding more, future obligations. We’re talking about owing even more people even more money. We’re talking about further indebting our kids and grandkids.

Our Addiction

What the hell is wrong with us? Are we so incompetent, so lacking in budgetary sense, that we can’t see how we have a spending problem?

We’re addicted to spending. It’s an addiction — nothing less. Alcoholics are addicted to alcohol, druggies are addicted to drugs, we’re addicted to spending more than we have. We’re addicted to indebting our children and grandchildren. It’s sick. What is wrong with us?

Never mind reforming unsustainable entitlement programs. We can’t even agree to cut waste and fraud from those programs. We can’t even agree to make sure illegal drug abusers aren’t being funded by those programs. We can’t even agree to stop adding more and more entitlement programs.

We see we’re in a hole and we keep digging. We see the drugs are killing us and yet we take more of them. We see the alcohol is ruining our lives and yet we down another bottle. We see the uncontrolled spending is destroying America and yet we talk about how much more to indebt ourselves rather than whether we should at all.

What’s the problem, no one wants to yield first?

Fine, I’ll do it. I’ll agree to forgeit my future promised benefits. Done. I don’t expect a dollar from either Social Security or Medicare. Not a f*cking dime. All the money I’ve paid already? Keep it. I don’t give a damn. I’d rather lose all of that money than see America destroy itself over an addiction.

What We’ll Do

How will I ever survive? I’m young enough, I’ll plan for the future accordingly. You see, I’m not an idiot. I can figure out that I’ll need to retire some day, and so I’ll make sure to put more aside each week. If I’m capable of living to age 65 with clothes on my back and food on my table, then I’m capable of planning my own retirement.

Instead of spending $6 on a cup of coffee, I’ll take the free coffee at work. $6 a day, $30 a week, $120 a month, $1,440 a year. Let’s say I have 30 more years to work before I retire. $43,200 over my work life. All of it saved buy spending less on coffee. I put that money aside and allow it to accrue interest.

(ASIDE: Let’s say you only spend $3 a day on coffee, or less than half-an-hour on minimum wage. That’s $15 a week, $60 a month, $720 a year, $21,600 over the remaining 30 years of my work career. Thanks to spending less on coffee.)

That’s $43,200 directly saved, just by changing my coffee habit. Enough to survive after retirement? Of course not. But I’m not going to just alter my coffee habit, am I? I’d have to be an idiot. Which I’m not, as previously noted.

Current Promises

Now, because I’m not an idiot I also understand that not everyone has 30 years of work remaining. What to do about those about to retire, those retired, or those just a few years away from retiring? Provide their benefits as promised. Nothing you can do about it now. Make the best of the situation and focus instead on mitigating further damage.

That Said…

But us young people? Those of us decades away from retirement? Those who have plenty of time remaining to plan? Screw us. If we spend the next 30 years squandering money rather than planning for retirement? Screw us.

Harsh? Tough. Look at what we have at our disposal. Most of us can go to college. Most of us will never make minimum wage. Most of us have computers, cellphones, and have or will have vehicles. Most of us aren’t morons.

We’re Americans. Our future is in our hands. If we squander that opportunity, if I squander that opportunity, why should you care? I squandered it. We squandered it. I made that choice. We made that choice. Not you. Not our children. Not our grandchildren. Us.

We live in an age where just about anything is possible. Where we live longer and can make more than anyone before us. If we screw that up, let us live with the consequences. Not Americans yet to be born.

In Conclusion

Keep our current obligations. Live up to the promises we’ve made to those about to retire and those who already have. We never told them they would have to do without these programs. We never told them they’d have to plan for themselves.

But it’s time our government stopped lying to us younger generations. Social Security and Medicare are not sustainable and will not be available to those of us decades away from retirement. At least not without destroying America first.

We can plan for the future. We have the time. We can make arrangements for our retirement. We’re not idiots. We can learn to save more and waste less. There’s plenty of room.

But the “adults” have to be honest with us first. They have to tell us that these programs won’t be there, that we’ll have to rely upon ourselves. They’ll have to end the cycle of debt.

Because see, there’s the real issue. It’s not keeping current promises — it’s the refusal to stop making new ones. It’s the refusal to stop adding more obligations to our outstanding ones.

It’s the refusal to be honest and treat us young people like adults. Because if we’re old enough to be indebted to the tune of trillions of dollars, then we’re old enough to be told the truth.

End the lie. Tell us what to do. Your honest, combined with our acceptance of responsibility, would save America. We still have time. It’s not too late.

Sorry for the rant. And apologies for any spelling or grammatical errors. I wrote this as I thought it.