Our nation's illusion of wealth is being propped up with irresponsible defict spending and an unfathomable National Debt.
The Outstanding Public Debt as of 01 Jun 2004 at 07:13:27 PM GMT is:
$7,208,201,257,532.02
The estimated population of the United States is 294,199,936
so each citizen's share of this debt is $24,500.42.
I place economy among the first and most important virtues, and public debt as the greatest of dangers to be feared. To preserve our independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. If we run into such debts, we must be taxed in our meat and drink, in our necessities and in our comforts, in our labor and in our amusements. If we can prevent the government from wasting the labor of the people, under the pretense of caring for them, they will be happy.
~ Thomas Jefferson
"I am one of those who do not believe that a national debt is a national blessing, but rather a curse to a republic; inasmuch as it is calculated to raise around the administration a moneyed aristocracy dangerous to the liberties of the country."-- President Andrew Jackson - (1824)
We truly are blessed in being a capitalist nation; capitalism being the economic system associated with freedom, an individual right not allowed in heavily socialist systems.
Debt is silly to analyze without examining the person holding the notes ability to pay it. For instance, if I learned that I was 1.5 million in debt, I would despair. If Bill Gates learned he was 1.5 million in debt, he would hardly raise an eyebrow. So how does one measure the capacity for the US government to pay its debt? Easy, one asks the market to set a price on that debt and purchase it. Right now, the market thinks US debt is very manageable, does it not?