analyticsbox | Dec 01, 2022
No, the sky is not falling - YET
We Americans always find a way to solve our problem. I have heard that many times and it seems like that’s always been true, so why not now? What’s different?
‘It’s the debt, stupid.’
Things have changed and are not the same as the ‘old days’. A number of folks in DC and around the country are aware of this, but the American people largely are not aware of the severity of the problem, and what is projected for the future. To say it is not pretty is a colossal understatement.
The debt for the federal government is so large it cannot be comprehended. Including the Unfunded Obligations of Social Security and Medicare, the debt on September 30, 2021, is, Drumroll please:
$112 TRILLION DOLLARS. $112,000,000,000,000.
$345,000 for every man, woman, and child in this country.
Those numbers include 28 trillion dollars of interest bearing debt and it keeps on growing (it has already grown to 31 trillion dollars as of September 30, 2022). It is projected to be 45 trillion dollars in 2032 (IF we add no new spending), resulting from an average of almost 1.5 trillion dollars per year projected government deficit, and no end of deficits in sight, it just gets worse (data from Department of the Treasury and the CBO, government’s nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office).
President Clinton was the only president since 1960 to balance the budget and run a surplus. When he left office in 2001, the Debt to GDP ratio had been reduced from 65% to 55%. That ratio is manageable.
Since then, we have added about 25 trillion to the debt and it is now a ratio of 130% debt to GDP. That is not manageable and it just keeps getting worse.
If we do nothing and ‘keep on keeping on’, we are headed over the Fiscal Cliff. See our 2+ minute video on The Debt Bomb. Piling on debt did not work in Greece, it’s not working in Italy (who is about to go over the Fiscal Cliff), as well as many other countries that will soon be headed over the proverbial Cliff. And it will not work for us.
BOTTOM LINE
We are on the Titanic, but have not yet hit the iceberg. Right now, the light at the end of the tunnel is a train, and it is coming full speed.
The GOOD NEWS is there is time to change course and avoid disaster, but we must wake up to the facts, understand reality, and face the problem.
The BAD NEWS is we are not facing the facts and fixing the problem. No one knows when that train will run us over, my guess is it will happen within the next 10 years if we do nothing and keep spending and borrowing. Our debt is nothing but a giant Ponzi scheme (See Facts, No Spin #4 which explains that).
Let’s leave this country the way we found it - one that still works. CONTACT CONGRESS using our convenient feature on our website. Let them know we understand the problem, and want this problem fixed.
LEARN ECONOMICS, THEN VOTE SMART