The Debt is Scary

On Thursday, October 20th, the Young Americans for Liberty chapter at Kutztown held an event where we visualized the United States’ national debt. To execute the event, we used 22 4’x2’ plywood boards and wrote the national debt on it. We made our debt clock close to the date we were holding the event so that the numbers we wrote on the boards could be as accurate as possible. The national debt is constantly increasing so it can never be exactly accurate.

We set up the boards on the DMZ, the grassy area on our campus. We wanted to follow the Halloween theme since it is so near. To do this we painted cob webs on the boards and we handed out pieces of candy that had the amount each person would have to pay if it was decided that the people of the United States would have to pay back the national debt. The pieces of candy with the everyone’s share of the debt was the most terrifying part.

Many students came up to the table and engaged with the members of the Kutztown chapter of YAL to learn more about our national debt and what our club is all about. A lot of the students were shocked when they saw how large the United States’ national debt is. Also, students were angry and confused as to why we have such a large debt. When reading the amount of debt many thought it was millions or billions, but when we told them it was $19 trillion their jaws dropped.

At one point during the event, school faculty approached our YAL chapter and asked us to move locations. The encounter was recorded on video and sent to FIRE.

Overall the event was a success; many came to the table and gained knowledge from the event. Some took literature from the table so that they could learn more about it. Also, people gained interest in the club and showed interest in coming to upcoming meetings.

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