Well, the White House, translated Obama, says we're getting out of the depression and back to work again. Sounds great. My concern is that according to Sunday's paper, the Tuscarawas County Common Pleas Court reports an almost double increase in credit card collection filings over last year. The Clerk of Courts, Rockne Clarke, is quoted as saying that in 2008 filings were only 301 for the entire year, but through last Friday they were up to 592. It really doesn't matter how you try to explain it away, the fact is that folks just can't pay their bills. To read the whole story check http://www.timesreporter.com/ for the article "Credit card cases soar."
Last Friday, Paul Volcker, the former Chairman of the Federal Reserve and advisor to Obama, didn't seem as optimistic as the President. Matter of fact, while in Berlin he commented that, “We have another economic problem which is mixed up in this of too much consumption, too much spending relative to our capacity to invest and to export. It’s involved with the financial crisis but in a way it’s more difficult than the financial crisis because it reflects the basic structure of the economy.”
Basically this translates to we are spending more money as a nation that we can afford. There are lots of figures churned out to deny that we're going broke as a nation, but the economic fact is that we are over our head in debt. If you are worried about owing your bookie twenty dollars because of this weekend's football game, consider this. The public debt, as of this writing, stands at $7,722,301,552,000 plus. That first figure behind the dollar sign is trillions of dollars. Seems like a lot, right? The public debt, by the way, is the money that has to be paid back to lenders, like taxpayers, the Chinese and other foreign investors, for money borrowed from the sale of federal bonds, loans, and other debts accrued by the government.
There are also what are called Intergovernmental Holdings, which is money borrowed from assets and funds owned by the government itself, stuff like the Social Security Trust Fund, Medicare Trust Fund, things which we have been required to pay for which are supposed to be tucked away for our future security, needs, and future. That debt comes to $4,370,371,347,000 plus, that's trillions again. Add them together and you get a gross national debt, that is, the total amount of money that the government owes, of $12,092,672,900,000 plus.
Last Friday, Paul Volcker, the former Chairman of the Federal Reserve and advisor to Obama, didn't seem as optimistic as the President. Matter of fact, while in Berlin he commented that, “We have another economic problem which is mixed up in this of too much consumption, too much spending relative to our capacity to invest and to export. It’s involved with the financial crisis but in a way it’s more difficult than the financial crisis because it reflects the basic structure of the economy.”
Basically this translates to we are spending more money as a nation that we can afford. There are lots of figures churned out to deny that we're going broke as a nation, but the economic fact is that we are over our head in debt. If you are worried about owing your bookie twenty dollars because of this weekend's football game, consider this. The public debt, as of this writing, stands at $7,722,301,552,000 plus. That first figure behind the dollar sign is trillions of dollars. Seems like a lot, right? The public debt, by the way, is the money that has to be paid back to lenders, like taxpayers, the Chinese and other foreign investors, for money borrowed from the sale of federal bonds, loans, and other debts accrued by the government.
There are also what are called Intergovernmental Holdings, which is money borrowed from assets and funds owned by the government itself, stuff like the Social Security Trust Fund, Medicare Trust Fund, things which we have been required to pay for which are supposed to be tucked away for our future security, needs, and future. That debt comes to $4,370,371,347,000 plus, that's trillions again. Add them together and you get a gross national debt, that is, the total amount of money that the government owes, of $12,092,672,900,000 plus.
The next thing to consider is the Gross Domestic Product, or GDP. That's the amount of all goods and services produced by a nation. In the United States, it amounts to, give or take, $14,261,000,000,000 . Consider for a minute, that the amount of money that the federal government owes is only two trillion, one hundred sixty nine billion dollars less than the total amount of goods and services manufactured in the entire United States this year.
Look at it this way. If you had a job and were making $142 a week, I know its not much but we're just supposing, and before you could spend anything on electricity, gas, gasoline, food, house rental or mortgage, you had to pay your neighbor $121 a week for loans he made to you. It would be kind of hard to live wouldn't it? That would only leave you with $21 for the entire week's necessities. And suppose that the cost kept rising $41 every week because of the interest payments. That would pretty much finish off your financial stability. Oh, you ask. Where did the $41 come from? That represents the $40,759,555,481 interest payment this year on the gross federal government debt.
But, you see, the government is different than you and I. They don't care. Where we have to pay our debt off or go bust, congress just raises the debt limit, the president approves it, and they let somebody else worry about paying it off.
It is a vicious circle in which, as things get worse, the government spends more. As the government spends more, taxes go up. As taxes go up, businesses close. As businesses close, jobs are lost. As jobs are lost, tax revenue falls. As things get worse, the government spends more. As the government spends more, taxes go up. It just goes on and on and on.
And the White House says things are getting better? Go figure.
Look at it this way. If you had a job and were making $142 a week, I know its not much but we're just supposing, and before you could spend anything on electricity, gas, gasoline, food, house rental or mortgage, you had to pay your neighbor $121 a week for loans he made to you. It would be kind of hard to live wouldn't it? That would only leave you with $21 for the entire week's necessities. And suppose that the cost kept rising $41 every week because of the interest payments. That would pretty much finish off your financial stability. Oh, you ask. Where did the $41 come from? That represents the $40,759,555,481 interest payment this year on the gross federal government debt.
But, you see, the government is different than you and I. They don't care. Where we have to pay our debt off or go bust, congress just raises the debt limit, the president approves it, and they let somebody else worry about paying it off.
It is a vicious circle in which, as things get worse, the government spends more. As the government spends more, taxes go up. As taxes go up, businesses close. As businesses close, jobs are lost. As jobs are lost, tax revenue falls. As things get worse, the government spends more. As the government spends more, taxes go up. It just goes on and on and on.
And the White House says things are getting better? Go figure.
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