During testimony on State Representative Spencer Swalm’s resolution HJR10-1031 that would request Congress to call a constitutional convention to draft a balanced budget amendment, State Representative Lois Court argued against the resolution in the House State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee because of our addiction.  A Colorado News Agency article, quoted Court:

The fact is, is that Americans are addicted to debt. We have 14.6 million dollars in credit card debt in Colorado. I’m not certain that Coloradoans are all that good about reining in their debt.

Court’s quote reveals more than just an unwillingness to address the very serious issue of federal debt and the burden it puts on Coloradans.  It demonstrates a misunderstanding between personal and public debt.

Private citizens exercising their free will to engage in economic activity that leads to personal debt in no way should be misconstrued as permission for government to overburden taxpayers with a national debt they and their children cannot pay.

Also, to compare Coloradans’ personal credit card debt to the national debt is laughable. Right now, the U.S. national debt is $41,969.17 per citizen. Using Rep. Court’s $14.6 million figure and dividing it by 5,024,748, the most recent Census Bureau population estimate for Colorado, the personal credit card debt per Coloradan is $2.91.  If working for minimum wage of $7.24 per hour, it would take just over 24 minutes to pay off the Colorado’s personal credit card debt.

Based on those numbers, it appears that government is addicted to debt not individual Coloradans.

Rep. Swalm was on the right track calling for a federal balanced budget amendment.  We also need a national Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, like Colorado’s TABOR, which saved MAD’s home state from becoming the next California. That’s the only way to stop Congress from spending money we need to raise our children.

As for Swalm’s resolution, it failed in committee on a 6-5 vote.