Hi! My name is Zachary. My Daddy says that I should talk to you directly because you help control the purse strings for Canada. My Mommy takes that responsibility in our family, so I know that you must be very special and very powerful. Daddy says that you are spending more money every year than is generated in tax revenues. I'm just a little kid, but I don't understand how it is possible to do that. If Daddy tried to spend more money than he earned, Mommy would certainly have a word or two to say on the subject!

I'm eight months old. The national debt at this very second is $501,144,203,519.92, but it will be a lot higher by the time my little fingers finish typing this letter. You see, based on the latest deficit forecast of $46,500,000,000.00, the debt increases by $,1474.50 per second. What will the national debt be by the time I become a taxpayer? If I start paying taxes full-time when I am twenty-two in the year 2014, and assuming that the annual deficit will average $46,500,000,000,000.00 per year, the national debt will be $1,442,792,998,841.19. That's one trillion, four hundred and forty-two billion, seven hundred and ninety-two million, nine hundred and ninety-eight thousand, eight hundred and forty-one dollars and nineteen cents. In reality, of course, the national debt is likely to be much, much higher because Daddy says that politicians excel at spending money quicker than anyone. My Daddy says that if I start counting today, and manage to count one number per second (highly unlikely -- try saying the number used above in one second), it will take me forty-five thousand, seven hundred and fifty years to count that high. I'm not sure, but I don't think that I will live that long.

My share as a taxpayer in 2014 will be at least $97,973.98, and the per capita debt will be at least $50,178.89.  My Mommy and Daddy have taught me not to whine, so I am asking you very nicely -- won't you please stop spending so much money? When I become prime minister some day, I want to help govern a country with a healthy economy and a population of happy taxpayers. I'm counting on you to start the process that will make that possible.

Yours truly,

Zachary Alexander Pedde

P.S. My daddy's company (Phoenix Accrual Corporation) produces a software package called the Doomsday Clock that will help you confirm the numbers used in my letter.  It's free to federal politicians.