Like a 50’s sci-fi movie Vice President Joe Biden often shares his visions of the future (which include limb regeneration and plants that grow without water) at commencement addresses. But he never seems to talk about the monster debt of over $138,000 per taxpayer that graduates will get to help to pay for in their lifetime.
In a speech to graduates of Cypress Bay High School in Florida in early June, Biden shared his future visions, which to me, are reflective of some bad sci-fi movies. “Imagine the day when in your lifetime, doctors are able to regenerate entire body organs and limbs that have been damaged and lost.”
Here he mentions regeneration of limbs but not reattachment. This may pose a problem, one not unlike what can be seen in the film ‘The Crawling Hand’.
“Imagine a world in which hunger is vanquished by crops that don’t depend on the soil, water or fertilizer or pesticides to thrive,” Biden also said in that June 4th commencement speech.
‘From Hell It Came’ features an unrooted tree that runs around and attacks people. I don’t recall it pausing from its reign of terror to take a drink.
The real reign of terror is coming from rampant government spending though.
Biden can make these claims about the future because he’s helping to spend your tax money on these projects. A quick look through the use of Recovery Act funds shows $93,820 was awarded to a study at the University of Wisconsin for studying limb development because it will advance understanding of “molecular programs underlying limb regeneration.”
One thing the project hasn’t really grown is jobs, creating an underwhelming 0.12 reported.
$516,000 of Recovery Act money was awarded to Plant Sensory Systems, LLC to work on genetically modified plants using less water and fertilizer. A project that reportedly didn’t create even a percentage of a job.
Now, I’m not saying that these items aren’t desirable. Much like anyone else I look forward to having my soil-less, water-free, plant roaming around my cubicle. But I'd prefer this research to be in the private sector. Government spending in an attempt to create jobs that end up not being created (In the examples above over $600,000 was spent to create 0.12 jobs) just adds to the real monster of our debt.
America’s graduates will have to eventually tackle that monster. Currently the online U.S. Debt Clock estimates each U.S. taxpayer owes over $138,000 as debate rages once again about raising America’s debt ceiling.
This monster debt is not science fiction but real. It’s also the one that Vice President Biden doesn’t often discuss when imagining America’s future.