Happy Deficit Day, America!

You've probably heard of Tax Freedom Day -- the symbolic date by which the average American has earned enough to pay his taxes for the year. In 2012, Tax Freedom Day fell on April 17, meaning all wages earned from January 1 - April 17 would go to paying taxes this year.

Today, however, we celebrate a different kind of holiday. Since the government spends much more than it takes in through tax revenues, today we celebrate Deficit Day -- the date at which federal tax revenues run dry and the country begins adding to its total debt.

If lawmakers produced a balanced budget, Deficit Day would occur on December 31st, when the government spent the last dollar of its annual tax receipts at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve. But we haven't seen a balanced budget since the Eisenhower administration. [...]

What's important about Deficit Day is the number of days that come after. Each subsequent day is another day in which the entire federal government is being paid for on credit. This year, the government will borrow, on average, $10 billion on each and every one of the 110 days from Deficit Day until the end of the year. That's 110 days of government operations that will be sitting on America's Credit Card come December 31st.

Last year, the government borrowed to pay for 132 days of operations. The year before that, 159 days. Over the past decade, the government had to borrow money to keep itself in operation for a grand total of 1,061 days. That's almost three full years of government that our children and grandchildren will have to pay for-in addition to paying for whatever the government does in the future. It's a devastating blow to their economic freedom and their future welfare.

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