Earlier this year, a friend sent me the link to a Web site that keeps a running tab on the elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about: the U.S. national debt. Check it out on: http://www.usdebtclock.org/ . A similar clock displays the U.S. national debt -- and what each family's share of that debt is -- on Sixth Avenue in New York City. (Note: the above photo was taken when the national debt was only $10 trillion.)Brace yourself when you click on the link, however, because the numbers are staggering. Most of the numbers associated with it -- the national debt, U.S. federal spending, the U.S. federal budget deficit, for example ... all in red (as in red ink) -- continue adding up before your very eyes at a blistering pace.
As of this writing, the current U.S. national debt -- the amount of money the government owes its creditors --stands at $12.5 trillion. That figures to $114,250 per taxpayer and $40,533 per citizen. (It's not stated whether these citizens are legal U.S. citzens only, or a combination of U.S. citizens and illegal immigrants. OK, it's a poor attempt at humor, but work with me here.)
A show of hands if you think the U.S. government will ever pay off this debt, or substantially reduce it. I didn't raise my hand, either.
Other interesting numbers:
Most of the debt has been accumulated since 1980. The GOP had its man in the White House 20 of the past 30 years, thus The Gipper, Bush 41 and Bush 43 certainly get their share of blame. However, while the President submits a budget every fiscal year, Congress has a significant say in determining the final budget. Democrats have controlled both the House and Senate 12 years since 1980; the GOP 10 -- including six years during the Clinton Administration, when the government had balanced budgets and small surpluses. Congressional power was split during a 6-year span in the 1980s, as Republicans controlled the Senate, while Democrats controlled the House.
Democrats will blame Republicans, and vice-versa, for the national debt. But given the size of this debt, I think there's enough blame to go around.
Recently, some of the so-called "Blue-Dog" Democrats have been talking about introducing legislation to add a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution. Back in the 1990s, the House passed a balanced-budget amendment, then it fell in the Senate by one vote. It's a nice conversation piece, but it's highly unlikely such an amendment would ever become reality. Two-thirds of Congress, and three-fourths of all the states, would have to support it.
Lawmakers, as well as the news media, usually focus on the deficit -- the difference between what the govenment spends as opposed to the amount of tax revenue it takes in. So far this year, the deficit is a record $1.4 trillion and climbing. But even if the legislative and executive branches somehow exercise fiscal discipline and submit a balanced budget -- or something close to it -- for the President to sign during a given year (or years), it will do little to reduce the national debt unless they're able to run off a string of substantial budget surpluses.
The national debt is virtually ignored, but Neal Boortz of SmallGovTimes.com lays out a compelling scenario as to why more attention should be paid to it:
Boortz writes, "Taking that (national debt) into consideration … add up the interest paid on that debt, plus the cost of entitlement benefits like Social Security and Medicare … and by the year 2020, that spending alone will consume 80 percent of all federal revenues. That does not include any spending for military or homeland security.
A show of hands if you think the U.S. government will ever pay off this debt, or substantially reduce it. I didn't raise my hand, either.
Other interesting numbers:
- Total U.S. debt (personal, government, the whole shebang) is almost $56 trillion, which breaks down to around $691,000 per family and $180,000 per citizen.
- Total personal debt is $16.6 trillion, or around $53,800 per citizen.
- Medicare/Medicaid and Social Security are the largest items in the U.S. budget at $762 billion and $682 billion per year, respectively, while defense is No. 3 at $662 billion.
- Federal pensions are $189 billion.
- Everyone complains about earmarks, and rightfully so (think "the bridge to nowhere" and other pork barrel spending measures). But in the grand scheme of things, the government has bigger fish to fry. Earmarks amount to just over $19.5 billion.
- The current U.S. population is approaching 309 million (don't forget to fill out your Census forms!).
- Nearly 15 million of us are officially listed as unemployed. The debt clock says the actual amount of unemployed is closer to 26 million (a new person is added to this list every 8 seconds).
- The U.S. work force stands at over 138 million; state and federal employees number a combined 21 million.
- There are just over 39 million food stamp recipients.
Most of the debt has been accumulated since 1980. The GOP had its man in the White House 20 of the past 30 years, thus The Gipper, Bush 41 and Bush 43 certainly get their share of blame. However, while the President submits a budget every fiscal year, Congress has a significant say in determining the final budget. Democrats have controlled both the House and Senate 12 years since 1980; the GOP 10 -- including six years during the Clinton Administration, when the government had balanced budgets and small surpluses. Congressional power was split during a 6-year span in the 1980s, as Republicans controlled the Senate, while Democrats controlled the House.
Democrats will blame Republicans, and vice-versa, for the national debt. But given the size of this debt, I think there's enough blame to go around.
Recently, some of the so-called "Blue-Dog" Democrats have been talking about introducing legislation to add a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution. Back in the 1990s, the House passed a balanced-budget amendment, then it fell in the Senate by one vote. It's a nice conversation piece, but it's highly unlikely such an amendment would ever become reality. Two-thirds of Congress, and three-fourths of all the states, would have to support it.
Lawmakers, as well as the news media, usually focus on the deficit -- the difference between what the govenment spends as opposed to the amount of tax revenue it takes in. So far this year, the deficit is a record $1.4 trillion and climbing. But even if the legislative and executive branches somehow exercise fiscal discipline and submit a balanced budget -- or something close to it -- for the President to sign during a given year (or years), it will do little to reduce the national debt unless they're able to run off a string of substantial budget surpluses.
The national debt is virtually ignored, but Neal Boortz of SmallGovTimes.com lays out a compelling scenario as to why more attention should be paid to it:
Boortz writes, "Taking that (national debt) into consideration … add up the interest paid on that debt, plus the cost of entitlement benefits like Social Security and Medicare … and by the year 2020, that spending alone will consume 80 percent of all federal revenues. That does not include any spending for military or homeland security.
"Within the next few years, the national debt is expected to rise to 100 percent of our GDP (gross domestic product). To put into perspective, Greece – which is (currently) going through a major financial crisis – currently has a debt equivalent to 124 percent of the GDP."
1 comment:
Hey Mike, interesting blog you've got going. I tried to subscribe via Google Reader but couldn't get it to work. Are you sure you've got your blog set up right to provide Atom or RSS? -Fred
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