EDMOND — With each passing week, more bad economic news keeps coming in. For our children, though, the news is even worse.

On Friday, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that the U.S. economy shed another 651,000 jobs in February, pushing the unemployment rate up to 8.1 percent — the highest rate since December 1983. To add insult to injury, the BLS also reported that the economy lost 161,000 more jobs in December and January than it had previously estimated. In the 14 months of this recession the economy has lost nearly 4.4 million jobs, with 3.3 million jobs lost in just the last six months.

In Oklahoma we are faring significantly better, but the national recession is taking its toll here too. The latest state-level data, which is for December 2008, shows Oklahoma’s unemployment rate at 4.6 percent. However, this number has been rising every month since August so is likely to be closer to 5 percent now.

The trouble is that until the bad news stops, no one knows just how bad the economy will get. To date, there has been no indication that the economy has hit bottom. In December the economy lost 681,000. This was followed by 655,000 jobs lost in January and the 651,000 jobs lost last month. While the magnitude of the losses is getting smaller, this just means that the economy is not falling as fast. There is no sign when the economy will start moving up again.

In response to the slumping economy Democratic leaders proposed a $787 billion “stimulus” package that had too little stimulus, and which the Congressional Budget Office estimated would actually lower the rate of economic growth by 2013. Now Democrats are trying to pass a $410 billion stimulus bill loaded with 8,000 earmarks at a time when the federal budget deficit this year was already expected to be a record $1.5 trillion.

Republicans have countered with proposals to pass large, permanent tax cuts which would push the nation further into debt too. According to the Congressional Budget Office estimates, just extending the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, and permanently fixing the Alternative Minimum Tax to shield middle-class tax payers, will increase the national debt by $5 trillion over the next ten years (the current debt level will approach $7.5 trillion this year). Then Republicans proposed more tax cuts, and more debt, on top of that.

In essence, Democrats want to help the economy by enacting large, permanent spending increases. Republicans want to help the economy by enacting large, permanent tax cuts. Yet both parties are willing to burden future generations with large, permanent debts.

The pain these debts would inflict on future generations is very real. We must not forget that when the government goes into debt, it must borrow money to pay its obligations. Every dollar the government borrows means there will be one less dollar for private businesses to borrow in order to expand production. In economic terms, government debt “crowds out” private investment. With less investment, the economy grows at a slower pace, leading to lower incomes, higher taxes, and a lower standard of living for future generations.

It is this myopic focus on today, and the profligacy that results, that is the root cause of our current economic troubles. Over the last 20 years there has been too much spending, too little saving and too little caring about future generations. This must stop, if we are to ever regain our economic footing.

If history is any guide then the two political parties will continue playing their petty partisan games. Unfortunately, the lessons from history indicate the real losers will be our children.

MICKEY HEPNER is an associate professor of economics at the University of Central Oklahoma.