National Debt Load Is A Fiscal Time Bomb

[Purveyor]

Let's say someone is spending about 11 percent of his or her paycheck to cover interest on outstanding debt. Erica Sandberg, a spokeswoman for Consumer Credit Counseling Service of San Francisco, says she'd immediately advise that person to seek help.

"This is a huge amount of a person's paycheck just to make ends meet," Sandberg said. "That's never smart. If you're borrowing that much, you might feel good for the short term. But over the long haul, you're going to be in real trouble."

Unfortunately, the person she's talking about is you -- and everybody you know.

As the national debt approaches a staggering $9 trillion, roughly $240 billion will be spent this year paying interest on the half that's held by public creditors (of which Japan and China are the largest). That translates to about 11 percent of projected tax revenue.

In other words, we're spending more on interest for our national credit card bill than was spent last year in discretionary funds for the Education, Veterans Affairs and Justice departments combined.

And at the rate we're borrowing, experts say, the amount of annual interest payments could double within 10 years.

---END OF CLIP---

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/03/11/BUGC2OHQJ01.DTL

[BlueJazz]

1. I have to admit...in my Fantasy World, I wish there were a way ....

...to ascertain who voted for Republicans this past 2 elections and send them
a Bill for their idiocy.

They (the Rebug Voters) have just about screwed us all...

[Wilms]

8. Make that the last twenty-five years. n/t

[MasonJar]

2. What can be expected with the corporate give-aways and the tax cuts for the wealthiest?

[prolesunited]

3. For the past 20 months,

Americans have spent more than the earned, according to Harper's Index.

[Deja Q]

6. Possibly because they think the end is nigh and may as well have some fun...

Meanwhile I'm not out there getting laid and every disease imaginable because of it... :shrug:

:rofl:

[Skink]

4. This will be known as the Subprime Government.

[Purveyor]

5. "Subprime Government"...accurate description, indeed! n/t

[alittlelark]

7. This Thread sums up the issue.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=125x148513

Bush1 and Dick Cheney started privatizing the US military back in 1991. That privatization of logistics has led to tragedies like the USS Cole bombing, the gouging for basic needs for our soldiers, the loss of billions of our tax dollars in Iraq, and the breakdown of services at Walter Reed.


Now we hear that Halliburton is moving their HQ from Houston to Dubai. Once there, the global fascism will take hold firmer and stronger than at any other point we have witnessed in the past.

And the US will be left bankrupt and broken in too many areas to get it fixed in any expedient way.

No financial problems for the incredibly FLUSH global corporations who have been lining their pockets at our expense for the last twenty years, though.

Want to bet that Halliburton and Bechtel will have Blackwater and other private armies at their disposal while our military struggles to recoup?

We have GOT to stop Halliburton's move of all their documents and paperwork.

Contact Waxman and Congress about Halliburton. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

We cannot let them get away with BANKRUPTING America while BANKROLLING New World Order.

Even the RW and the Freepers will have to notice this.

[barb162]

11. your post sums it up nicely too

Problem is I think the time to fix things is long gone. The country is going down the tubes

[MasterDarkNinja]

9. I agree, the debt/budget should be the most important issue

:( That's part of why I was really sad to see Dean lose the nomination in 04, I loved how he prioritized having a balanced budget.

At the rate that the national debt has been growing in the recent years the only way to possibly fix this mess is to amend the constitution to say the budget must be balanced and we can't be spending more then we earn. The national debt/budget is the most important issue to me, and I'm very disappointed that both parties mostly just ignore it, and make empty promises like "cut the deficit in half over X years" when asked about it.

I've done a lot of research into the national debt over the past year or two, it was under Reagan where we reached a one trillion dollar debt, but he didn't do anything about it. The people who came after Reagan didn't do anything about it either. In the last couple of years of his presidency Clinton did significantly slow down the rate that the national rose to barely anything, but it still went up a bit even with his attempts to balance the budget. The national debt has more then doubled under George W. Bush's rule.

The last time the US federal government had a real surplus, a year where we lowered the national debt, was one year under Eisenhower, but when Eisenhower left office the national debt was still higher then it was before he took office.

[Xenotime]

10. * has put us in debt..

Clinton saved us and now we are ruined.

[barb162]

12. You might want to take a look at debt the last few decades

It's been going on since before the Vietnam war