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U.S. Governments Debt

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We have struck the iceberg folks

The U.S. government fell deeper into the red in fiscal 2010 with net liabilities swelling more than $2 trillion

As commitments on government debt and federal benefits rose, a U.S. Treasury report showed on Tuesday December 21, 2010.

U.S. National Debt 2010

So just how big is the U.S. national debt in 2010?

Well, according to the U.S. Treasury Department, on June 1st the U.S. National Debt was $13,050,826,460,886.97. For those not used to seeing such big numbers, that is over 13 trillion dollars. To give you an idea of just how much a trillion dollars is, if you had started spending one million dollars every single day when Christ was born, you still would not have spent one trillion dollars by now. And yet somehow the U.S. government has accumulated a debt of over 13 trillion dollars. This is a debt that we have callously placed on the backs of future generations of Americans. Somehow we have the gall to expect our progeny to pay off the biggest mountain of debt in the history of the world. What we have done to future generations is beyond sickening.

Please try to resist the urge to laugh.

This request comes from the same government that spent $2.6 million tax dollars to study the drinking habits of Chinese prostitutes and $400,000 tax dollars to pay researchers to cruise six bars in Buenos Aires, Argentina to find out why gay men engage in risky sexual behavior when drunk.

This year, it is projected that the U.S. government will issue nearly as much new debt as the rest of the governments of the world combined.

Now remember, when Ronald Reagan took office, the U.S. national debt was only about 1 trillion dollars.

So, from the founding of the United States until Reagan took office we accumulated a total of about 1 trillion dollars in debt.

In just the last 30 years we have accumulated 12 trillion dollars more.

You know, the truth is that it is really, really hard to even spend one trillion dollars.

And now we are officially in the danger zone.

Most economists consider a level of 100 percent debt to GDP to be an absolute nightmare scenario.

Yes, we are in a LOT of trouble.

So can we just raise taxes on everybody just a little bit and get rid of this budget deficit?

Well, unfortunately no.

According to the Tax Foundation’s Micro simulation Model, to erase the U.S. budget deficit for 2010, the U.S. Congress would have to multiply the tax rate for every American by 2.4.

That would mean that the 10 percent tax rate would become 24 percent, the 15 percent tax rate would become 36 percent, and the 35 percent tax rate would have to be 85 percent.

Would you like to pay 85 percent of your income in taxes?

And that would not reduce the national debt one penny - all that would do is eliminate the U.S. budget deficit for this year.

The truth is that it is simply not possible to pay off the national debt. Most economists realize this and speak of more realistic goals such as getting our debt growth down to a level that is "sustainable".

But the reality is that we are way beyond being able to get this debt under control. If the U.S. government cut spending enough to make a real difference it would crush the economy and tax revenue would take a sharp nosedive. If the U.S. government borrows even more money and increases government spending even more it will help the economy in the short-term, but it will make our long-term problems even worse.

No, the truth is that we have created an economic nightmare from which there simply is no escape under the current system. The national debt will never be repaid and the never ending spiral of debt and paper money that we have created is doomed to failure.

So what will happen someday when the current economic system does collapse?

That will be for the American people to decide. Hopefully they will learn from our mistakes and will return to our constitutional roots and devise a financial system based on solid economic principles.

The Debt to the Penny and Who Holds It - CLICK HERE

Encyclopedia of Economics - CLICK HERE

The EH.Net Encyclopedia of Economic and Business History is designed to provide students and laymen with high quality reference articles in the field. Articles for the Online Encyclopedia are written by experts, screened by a group of authorities, and carefully edited.

Bureau of the Public Debt - CLICK HERE

U.S. Debt Clock - CLICK HERE

FRONTLINE - CLICK HERE

TEN TRILLION AND COUNTING

2008 Financial Report of the U.S. Government (pdf) - CLICK HERE

The Day the Dollar Died - CLICK HERE