Bill White, former mayor of Houston, believes that our country has veered way off course with our federal debt.

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“For 90% of our country’s history, we only borrowed for extraordinary purposes…to wage war, plug holes during severe downturns or to acquire territory,” says White in the video above. He argues that borrowing money to keep the government functioning normally is deceitful and goes against the “fiscal constitution” that our forefathers created.

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“The founding fathers realized that there might be a temptation to use debt to disguise the routine operating expenses of government and taxes are the price that allow consumers to figure out what government costs them,” explains White.

When it comes to balancing today’s budget, the debt ceiling is a joke, says White. “Congress votes to spend money that is greater than the available tax revenue and then they debate later on whether or not to raise the debt to pay for the spending that they’ve already authorized.”

White believes lawmakers should go back to the way they used to fund policy—votes on government spending had to happen immediately and agreed to that day.

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“That way the American people knew what you were borrowing money for. That way the American people could hold people accountable,” says White.

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