$10,000,000,000,000
That means every tax payer's share of that debt is $66,600, which bears the mark of the beast, so perhaps the Ratshit is coming... I mean Rapture. So it will only cost my household $133,200 to avoid Biblical disaster. I'll start saving.
But I said there was good news, and there is. Look at this graph.
National Debt as a percentage of GDP tells a different story. The first Bush skyrocketed it. The Clinton years saw us getting a handle on it again. Now the second Bush has taken us on another modest climb.
But we are only as bad off as the nation was back in the early 1950's! We've seen worse. Not me personally as I have been alive through pretty much nothing but shit, but we as a nation have seen worse and we got through it. That means there is still hope for our economy and the national debt.
Politically of course we are still fucked.
2 comments:
Yes and no.
In the '50s the US had the world's only hard currency, and Europe and Asia were still rebuilding from the war. The Fed was able to simply monetize the debt to pump into the world economy instead of actually paying it off.
Now the rest of the world is in a stronger bargaining position, and the dollar is no longer consider "good as gold". So it won't be so easy this time around.
Just so I don't come off as a party pooper: The US actually has more than enough natural resources and industrial capacity to create sufficient wealth to keep the economy going. The only problem is that many Americans are used to living beyond their means, and now the bill collectors are calling. Once we adjust to not living on credit we'll be fine.
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