Buying bonds is not patriotic

An important step toward a balanced federal budget would be discontinuance of the sale of US savings bonds to small investors, followed later -- and as soon as possible -- by an end to all types of federal government borrowing.

Admittedly, the Constitution gives Congress the power ". . . to borrow money on the credit of the United States"; But clearly the founding fathers did not intend for borrowing to become a regular method of supplementing the government's income from normal sources. Yet huge sums have been borrowed almost every year since the 1930s.

Except in times of grave national emergency, such as World War II, the federal government shoudl be financed in the ways provided by the Constitution -- i.e., "Taxes, duties, imports, and excises." When this is the case, the taxpayers have a much better understanding of the government's financial status, and Congress is therefore far more likely to keep the annual budget within reasonable bounds. The average taxpayer doesn't feel personally imperiled by the sale of US savings bonds or by government borrowing from large investors. Therefore, savings bond sales and other borrowing enables the government to latch onto extra billions without arousing public concern to the extent that high tax rates do.

It would have been politically unfeasible for Congress to have raise enough money through taxation and other sources to match the huge and ever-growing federal budgets of the last few decades. Had this been tried, the public would have "fired" many a congressman and senator, and our legislators know this. So they take an easy way out and each year supplement government income from taxation and other normal sources by authorizing the Treasury to borrow huge sums of money, thereby fueling the fires of inflation, promoting Big Brother government, and improperly saddling future generations with gargantuan debts.

It is probably not practical for the government to immediately cease all borrowing, but it could certainly make a start by promptly discontinuing the sale of US savings bonds to small investors. (World War I Liberty Bonds were quickly phased out after that conflict ended).

Then plans could be developed for phasing out borrowing from large investors. Indeed, this concept of forcing the government to return totally to the normal and proper ways of financing its activities could conceivably be one of the most effective ways to restore fiscal responsibility in Washington and bring Big BRother government under control.

By borrowing billions of dollars each year the government competes with private financial institutions for the investor's dollar. This competition is harmful to our free enterprise system. Government borrowing year after year is a sure way to economic collapse.