Letter to the Editor – April 2013

Failure to address national debt hinders future opportunities

To the Editor,

Expanding our company from two employees here in Virginia to a global operation with 180 associates reflects the American Dream for our shareholders and for our employees.  This is the same dream that my immigrant grandfather realized, having built a successful wholesale business within a generation of coming to this country as a child.

The ability to start and to grow a business and to participate in growing our nation’s economy lies at the heart of the American enterprise. However, failure to address our unsustainable national debt hinders future opportunities. Our inaction jeopardizes the future of the economy and the prospects for our children and grandchildren.

Every day our debt grows by $3 billion. If we continue to allow our debt to grow in such a manner economic growth will sputter while the rates of interest, inflation and unemployment will all rise. There will be no money left to pay for the legitimate functions of government.  Even Medicare and Social Security will become insolvent.

Anyone who manages household or business finances can understand a simple truth: too much debt chokes off financial well-being and leaves one on a treadmill of debt service at the expense of any kind of savings or investment in the future.  How can our elected representatives in Washington fail to act when confronted with such an obvious truth?

I joined the Campaign to Fix the Debt in order to call on those elected representatives to show genuine leadership in addressing our nation’s debt problems. Our ballooning debt is one of the greatest threats to our economic well-being and to our national security. Policymakers need to focus on what’s best for the country and to do their jobs, rather than focusing on scoring political points and demonizing the opposition.

It is time for Washington to move from crisis management driven by short-term “solutions” to crafting a plan that puts our debt on a downward trajectory as a share of the economy. The continued finger pointing and false rhetoric has to stop. This is the time to take responsibility for our actions and to ensure that our nation’s economy is strong for generations to come.  

Scott Hamberger
CEO of Fortessa Tableware Solutions LLC, Sterling