Posted on 12/03/2007 5:56:48 AM PST by chessplayer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Like a ticking time bomb, the national debt is an explosion waiting to happen. It's expanding by about $1.4 billion a day -- or nearly $1 million a minute.
What's that mean to you?
It means almost $30,000 in debt for each man, woman, child and infant in the United States.
Even if you've escaped the recent housing and credit crunches and are coping with rising fuel prices, you may still be headed for economic misery, along with the rest of the country. That's because the government is fast straining resources needed to meet interest payments on the national debt, which stands at a mind-numbing $9.13 trillion.
(Excerpt) Read more at edition.cnn.com ...
And the Dems haven’t even passed their budget yet.
Remember this: half of every dollar spent in this country goes to an entitlement, be it Socialist Security, Medicare, Medicaid, welfare or unemployment. That’s $1.5 TRILLION right there, more than double what we spend on defense. Stop those payments and we’re out of debt in 7 years with change to spare.
Are we better off for any of it?? Nope.
I believe we are borrowing to meet the minimum monthly payment.
Since the gov’t owes ME, i’ll take mine in tens and twenties.
re welfare or unemployment, Drug test those who get it. I get drug tested so they can take 1/2 my check to give it away. You would be surprised at how many getting handouts are on drugs.
There’s a reason they’re called entitlements. They are far and away the most difficult part of the budget to cut.
BTW, here’s some interesting charts about GDP, debt, deficit and so forth.
http://www.skymachines.com/US_National_Debt_Per_Capita_Percent_of_GDP_and_by_President_1976-2005.htm
This kind of like complaining about a $100,000 mortgage when you have an income of $90,000 and your house is worth $300,000.
B4 people go off half cocked about our Debt and who owns it think about the value of the infrastructure the United States of America has. It is worth trillions.
As to who owns our debt; don’t you find it interesting that, just as an example, China would rather purchase US Treasury notes than take their money and invest in their own people! They would rather buy 10 billion in US Treasury notes than build roads, bridges, education, etc in their own country!
Medicaid/Medicare? Those programs is completely, irreversibly and catastrophically bankrupt. Those programs alone are the millstone that is sinking us. So much ink spilled over the subprime mortgage issue, but Medicare/Medicaid will make all that look like a tea party.
anyone have any idea how much Russia has invested in the USA?
Social Security and Medicare are part of the $9 trillion national debt. For example, the $2 trillion plus SS Trust Fund is part of the national debt under “Intragovernmental holdings.” The entitlement programs represent an unfunded liability of over $60 trillion.
It's because the gov't is dipping (borrowing) from these accounts when it should have been invested.
You’re right. It’s not going to be pretty. This is one hell of a mess to dump on future generations.
“What’s that mean to you?”
It doesn’t mean anything to me.
1) This report is from CNN. Do I need say more?
2) When has the debt not been too big?
3) When the debt is not increasing too fast, that’s news. Increasing too fast, dog bites man.
4) Raw numbers don’t mean anything. Compare it to GDP. Tell me how that compares to other times in history, other times when we are at war.
They have been saying this for over 200 years now.
Why? Government spending (debt) is figured into GDP as a positive figure. So if the government reduced spending the favored economic indicator "GDP" would drop.
LLS
I strongly agree with you. I’ve asked twice about the hovaround wheelchairs that are getting to be everywhere. What happens to these $5K wheelchairs when someone cannot use them any longer or dies? Are they refurbished and given to another or sold by the family? NO response that makes sense!! Also, many of these are fraud as was my father-in-law’s chair. He had enough strength to walk on a walker or roll the wheels with his arms. We called the seller and told them we were going to file a Medicare fraud claim and they came and got it in two days and we’d given them three days!
Also, can’t tell you how many other things that are $100 here and there that he and other seniors have- like bathing and toilet supports they get everytime they are in a different home. My aunt has an expensive inhaler machine that I am sure she is billed for on medicare sitting in her garage for about a year!
What has happened? Unethical people in sales are getting filthy rich distributing these goods by frauding our government. They are aided by the “homes” that care for the elderly as they just throw things away. The ONLY reuse we saw was in a Christian nursing home where they were not wasting the government’s money but took the time to find anything we needed in their little storeroom.
How do you know, do you have some kind of inside information?
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