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Thomas Jefferson was the author of the Declaration of Independence, the third President of the United States, and one of the most influential Founding Fathers. Jefferson was a statesman, philosopher, architect, and advocate for liberty. Yet, despite all his achievements, Jefferson held a deep-seated fear about something that still resonates today: the dangers of spending money that could only be paid by future generations.
“I sincerely believe that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies, and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.”
A letter from Thomas Jefferson to John Taylor in 1816.
Jefferson's concerns echo loudly in today’s world. With our national debt reaching thirty-five trillion dollars, which is more than we, our children, or our grandchildren can pay, it's clear that the warning he issued over two centuries ago describes the world we have created today.
We need to ask ourselves if we have destroyed, or as Jefferson would say, “swindled”, our children and grandchildren and ruined their lives.
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