Christmas is the time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for it. Deficits are when adults tell government what they want and their kids pay for it.

The quote contrasts two kinds of “wish lists.” At Christmas, children’s desires are constrained by adults who ultimately bear the bill; in politics, Lamm argues, adults can behave like children by demanding services, tax cuts, or protections while resisting the taxes needed to fund them. Deficits become a moral and civic problem because they obscure the true price of public choices and push repayment onto people who had no voice in the decision—future taxpayers, including today’s children. The humor sharpens a serious claim: responsible self-government requires aligning benefits with costs in the present rather than financing comfort now with obligations later.