Of course our children and grandchildren will pay for…

…investments we make in their future.  Just like we paid off the debt for some of the investments our parents and grandparents made in our future.

One of the big grumbles about government debt is that our children and grandchildren will have to pay.  However, what many of these people are grumbling about assumes that all debt is wasteful.

In many cases this can be true, especially if it is borrowing for today's operating expenses.  On the other hand, many things we need to borrow for to have in the future.  All that paid cash for every house they ever owned, please raise your hand.  Same for every car.

We as a society need to borrow for school buildings, government buildings, streets, sewers, and other infra-structure.  Do you think our great-grandparents had a bake sale to build the sewers we take for granted?

My persistent cold is making me thankful for all that has been made possible by past generations.

I don't have to go out in the cold to get wood to keep warm.  The gas keeps coming and the furnace ignites automatically as needed to keep our house at the temperature we selected.

I don't have to go out in the cold to well to get water.  Whenever I wash or want to make coffee, I just turn on the faucet.  I think on our street those waterlines were laid in the 40s or even before.

I don't have to go out in the cold to the outhouse.  I just go to the bathroom, push the little handle when I'm done, and all that stuff goes out of sight and out of mind.

We are all better off for these investments made by generations gone by.

We are also healthier and longer-lived because of those investments.  Even as ambulatory as I am with this cold that will probably be gone in another week, what would it be like if I had to go outside frequently for wood, for water, and for the toilet?  What would be the chances of my developing pneumonia and not being able to get help because there was no telephone?

It is true that we should pause now and then and be thankful for our blessings, especially those given to us by people long-gone.

As tax revenues dwindled, government service breakdowns rose

There is probably no more basic government service than clean water. There is probably no government service that we are so unwilling to pay more for.

The City of Duluth is considering selling its gas and water utilities. If these are privatized, won't we have to pay even more for them and have even less control over them?

If you want a good look at the complexity of providing clean water efficiently, safely, and at low cost, see "As inspections Dwindled, Water Main Breaks Rose", Washington Post, 2009-05-15.

An agency is deemed inefficient and cuts staff. An agency says it needs more money to provide services and finally gets it. It can't use up all the money because it cut staff.

We have political bickering, either over favoring certain constituents or over ideology.

We have uncontrolled growth outstripping infra-structure.

And on and on it goes.

My idea of heaven on earth is for people to support the idea of good government and make criticisms based on facts, not ideology. I guess I'm condemned to hell on earth.