Even though the United States was founded on a free market philosophy, the varies levels of government have intervene into the marketplace on our behalf. Throughout our early history the national government took a hands off approach to the national economy. It was not until 1890 that Congress passed the Sherman Anti-Trust which began to regulate how businesses were to form. Most of the elements of the Act were declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, but the door for Congress to regulate Commerce was opened. Still, whether you believe in the laissez-faire market theory developed by Adam Smith or you share the Keynes's theory of government intervention, we all have to agree that our government has grown into all facets of our lives.

For this week's constructive response question I want you to place yourself in the future, within your lifetime, forty to fifty years. In the past ten years, including the current year of our new president, our national debt has gone from 3.1 trillion dollars to over 14 trillion dollars. The debt is the accumulation of all the deficits that our country has. This means Congress, our representatives, have spent this much money over the amount of revenues the government has received. This means we, the citizens of the United States, will have to foot the bill in addition to try and fund any new program that Congress passes.

I want you to summarize what you expect your lifestyle to be in time frame. How much money you believe you may be making, the amount of taxes you will have to pay, governmental programs you expect to be around, and whether we will have cut the size of our government. Don't forget, this debt is just for the national government. We still have to support our state, local governments, school boards, water and sewage districts, libraries, sheriffs, etc.

www.usdebtclock.org/

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