More government debt is generally viewed as a bad side-effect of public policy. But rarely discussed is the way government debt affects the everyday lives of the general public.

“Every dollar that’s taxed, and every dollar that’s borrowed, isn’t just a number on a page,” House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price, R-Ga., said Saturday at the Conservative Political Action Conference. “It’s a dollar that can’t be used to buy a home, to pay your rent, to buy a car, to pay education fees. All of the things the American people want to do are harmed by an increasing federal debt.”