$7,524,963,287,269.27

http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/opd/opdpenny.htm ^ | http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/opd/opdpenny.htm

[soccer_linux_mozilla]

We're OVER 7.5 TRILLION now

[Glenn]

Debt is good. Debt is good. Debt is good.

Get with the program.

[REDWOOD99]

Point, please.

[Mayhem]

Powerball rolled over again?

[new cruelty]

No problem. I'll just put it on our capital one prime lock card...

[glock rocks]

[nanak]

"I sincerely believe... that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity under the name of funding is but swindling futurity on a large scale." --Thomas Jefferson to John Taylor, 1816. ME 15:23

"[With the decline of society] begins, indeed, the bellum omnium in omnia [war of all against all], which some philosophers observing to be so general in this world, have mistaken it for the natural, instead of the abusive state of man. And the fore horse of this frightful team is public debt. Taxation follows that, and in its train wretchedness and oppression." --Thomas Jefferson to Samuel Kercheval, 1816. ME 15:40

[skip_intro]

Don't worry about it. We can finance it by selling weapons systems to China.

[nanak]

"It is a [disputed] question, whether the circulation of paper, rather than of specie, is a good or an evil... I believe it to be one of those cases where mercantile clamor will bear down reason, until it is corrected by ruin." --Thomas Jefferson to John W. Eppes, 1813. ME 13:409

[Americanwolf]

The sky is falling.... The sky is falling! Oh wait that was chicken little....

Really come on now Debt is a good thing especially during a war. The balanced budget under the democrats was smoke and mirrors.

[RabidBartender]

Beltran signed with the Yankees then?

[glock rocks]

... at least partially... gotta take care of our illegals too. Oh, and our debt to the UN.

[SERKIT]

Bunny, pancake - you get the message. And the point is....?

[iconoclast]

Point, please.

It's on your head.

[lowbridge]

This problem is solved easily. Just hold a few bake sales and donate the profits to the government.

[Arkinsaw]

The fallout from people flying planes into your skyscrapers can do that.

When an administration allows the biggest economic bubble in history to just grow and grow and grow until it pops, that sort of thing can happen to you.

Going to war in two countries to eliminate the people who flew planes into your skyscrapers can do that.

Having to go from a lassez-faire attitude about security to one of eternal vigilance in just a year or two can do that to you.

Just remember, Hillary and her healthcare plan are standing by to make this look like chump change.

[skip_intro]

... at least partially... gotta take care of our illegals too. Oh, and our debt to the UN.

Yeah, I forgot about that. Also, I see we're giving $20 million to the Palestinian Authority to pay their utility bills, so you've got to add that in there as well.

[MissAmericanPie]

When govenrment says it has balanced the budget, it means that we have been able to pay the interest on the national debt. We never pay the principle, only the interest.

[Fester Chugabrew]

I'll chip in with the $0.27.

[CaptainAwesome2]

how about we take iraqs oil and stop wasting money trying to rebuild their nation.

[Petes Sandy Girl]

[Huck]

As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly as possible, avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace, but remembering also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it, avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertion in time of peace to discharge the debts which unavoidable wars may have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burden which we ourselves ought to bear. The execution of these maxims belongs to your representatives, but it is necessary that public opinion should co-operate. To facilitate to them the performance of their duty, it is essential that you should practically bear in mind that towards the payment of debts there must be revenue; that to have revenue there must be taxes; that no taxes can be devised which are not more or less inconvenient and unpleasant; that the intrinsic embarrassment, inseparable from the selection of the proper objects (which is always a choice of difficulties), ought to be a decisive motive for a candid construction of the conduct of the government in making it, and for a spirit of acquiescence in the measures for obtaining revenue, which the public exigencies may at any time dictate.

--George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796.

[monkeyshine]

$7,524,963,287,269.27
______________________

Shucks I knew I left my ATM receipt in the machine. I sure wish you hadn't posted anything about it.

[glock rocks]

You'll chip in whatever Uncle tells you to... at gunpoint if necessary.

[lowbridge]

When's the ZOT coming?

[Capitalism2003]

Supporting the largest expansion of the welfare state since FDR can do that.

[cripplecreek]

Oh great, as if I didn't have enough bills already.

[Iron Eagle]

what's our income?

I am no fan of running up the debt, mine or the Countries, but not all debt is bad -- and debt can have some advantages. Debt properly in proportion to income and assets can be used wisely.

So -- in order to evaluate whether or not the sky is falling, I need more data.

[Old Sarge]

I Have No Idea What You're Talking About...

...So Here's A Picture Of John Kerry With A
Soccer Ball On His Head!

[bubman]

less than 60% of GDP!!!

What's your point?

JFK had a debt/GDP ratio of close to 80%!!!

[snowsislander]

And $1.8548 trillion of that $7,524,963,287,269.27 (25%) is owed to foreign countries.

[fastattacksailor]

Yeah?


if there is a point there, I'd like to know what it is......

[REDWOOD99]

"Just 'cuz your head's shaped like a bullet don't make you a big shot, Cowboy!"

[microgood]

We actually only owe about 4 trillion because the rest is owed between government agencies (like stealing from social security and pensions).

[snowsislander]

less than 60% of GDP!!!

Actually, $7,524,963,287,269.27 is 63% of the latest GDP figure of $11,810.0 billion.

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

$0,000,000,000,000.00 There were back to Zero now !

Happy ?

This thread deserves a ZOT

[inquest]

Of course, if there was a Democrat in charge this thread would be full of posts clamoring about how that rascal's running the country into the ground.

[My Favorite Headache]

Hello...

[bahblahbah]

$7.5 Trillion
w00t Maybe we should be holding a get out of debt telethon on Labor Day.

[combat_boots]

Well, I think they went for a song a while back there, fella. Must be under the C files at the Clinton library.

[bwteim]

Your point is ........... ????

[Jim Robinson]

Hmmmm... just out of curiosity, I wonder what the asset side of the balance sheet looks like?

[Judith Anne]

There you go, being reasonable. ;-D

[KoRn]

I'm glad some of my fellow FReepers know allot about economics. I'm college educated, and I can barely grasp the science of it. Well, that could be because I didn't go to school to be an economist. I'm just glad guys like you are there for us non-econ class peeps(actually I took econ 101 but it was very basic stuff). lol

[Fester Chugabrew]

You'll chip in whatever Uncle tells you to... at gunpoint if necessary.

Of course. My $0.27 is merely a donation to the nation. Uncle can find it under the sofa cushions and car seats around my place. Believe me, Uncle has had his way with me otherwise, right between the cheeks.

[Twinkie]

CHARGE IT!!!!

[Blood of Tyrants]

Looks like we have been over $7 trillion for a while.

[hollywood]

I think I'll call my friend, Bono (lead singer of U2) and see if he's still on that "even the Bible says that every 50 years, a man's debt should be completely forgiven" crusade. Oh, wait, he was on that crusade to have the US forgive other debtors. Nevermind. /sarcasm of wishful thinking

[Blood of Tyrants]

It's only money.