Once again, lamentable as it is, the federal government must raise its debt. ceiling as it plunges deeper and deeper in the red. The people in Washington who run the govemment seem locked in a spending trend that knows no bounds. And unfortunately, the taxpayers are getting so numb to the whole process that few seem to protest any more at the rising budgets and national debt. Congress moved this past week to increase the federal debt ceiling to $773 billion through Sept. 30, 1978. The House passed the measure narrowly, 213 to 202. The Senate hadn’t acted as of the time this was written but the word from the capital indicated there wasn’t much choice in order to keep current spending legal. This soaring debt – in peacetime as well as in time of war – is appalling, even with inflation. In 1930, the national deficit totaled $16.1 billion. By 1940 near the end of the depression years the debt had risen to $42.9 billion and in 1946 as we wrapped up our participation in World War II it was $269.4 billion. The federal government held the line fairly well in the next decade as the debt reched $271 billion in 1956. But since then the stops have been pretty well removed. The figure went to $316 billion by 1966, and by September 1976 it was at an unbelievable $634.7 billion. Sadly, planned deficits continue. Meantime, the government is paying upwards of $37 billion annually just for interest on the debt. What about the annual budget? The record here reflects a combination of the inflation spiral and loose spending practices. The budget was at $55 billion in 1956 at conclusion of the great war. But note the climb since; 1956, $70 billion; 1966, $134 billion ; 1975, about $365 billion ; 1976, over $400 billion ; and just recently the budget for the next fiscal year was pegged in the neighborhood of $458 billiqn. In only a very few fiscal years in l.he last few decades has the federal government achieved a balanced budget – a shame from the standpoint of the taxpayers as well as a bad exmple for all. President Carter, in his campaign for election, promised to work for a balanced budget which he hopes to achieve before his term of office ends. That’s a worthwhile goal. It’s time all the forces involved in federal spending join the campaign to help him achieve it. C ru m Co u rse Here’s some advice to 390,000 former college students who’ve defaulted on those govemment insured loans they used to get through school; Better pay back the money or you’ll soon be matching wits with a private bill – collection agency. With more than $430 million in bad debts now outstanding and on borrower in six delinquent, the U.S. Office of Education has decided to issue one last warning and then call in the pros. “Unfortunately,” said Leo Kornfeld, who runs the USOE’s student loan program, “there is an attitude on many campuses that this is government money, it’s a soft touch and you can get out of paying it back.” In fact, bad debts piled up by excollegians must be made good by the taxpayers, who have a legal obligation to reimburse banks and other lenders for the overdue loans. If all else fails, the delinquent accounts should be turned over to federal prosecutors – some of whom have had considerable success already at nailing deadbeats to the wall. So They Say “The greatestjsingle harm to children is poverty.” – Conclusion of five-year study by the Carnegie Council on Children, which has proposed a job for every famlly’s breadwinner in the nation.