Time Magazine's person of the year, Greta Thunberg, created a stir when she spoke to the United Nations on September 23. She received a wealth of media coverage for her challenge to world leaders who are failing to address climate change. She spoke with conviction and passion. She also spoke at the 2019 Climate Action Summit, where she declared that failure to stop climate change has robbed her of her childhood. She spoke with urgency and conviction.
She called out leaders who care more about public appearance than actual solutions. She has some good points, although she seems to believe that changes in human activity can completely solve the problem.
I think that we need a Greta Thunberg to speak out against the U.S. debt. The debt is entirely within human control. It has possibly reached the point that it will never be paid off. Every president since Jimmy Carter has sounded the debt alarm while campaigning. And every president has allowed the debt to grow. Obama said that deficit spending was irresponsible, yet the debt doubled on his watch. Trump criticized Obama, yet he has proposed a budget with an annual deficit of $1 trillion.
How dare these politicians spend our money this way? How dare they waste dollars on anything but essential government services?
And a trillion is a lot. A million seconds is about a week and a half. A billion seconds is about 32 years. A trillion seconds is about 32,000 years. In other words, all of history has not yet seen a trillion seconds. We are $20 trillion in debt.
How dare our leaders not take this seriously? How dare they ignore this threat to our country?
What will happen when the dollar collapses?
Unlike climate change, we know that this is entirely our fault. And everyone wants to ignore it.
