U.S. Approaches $15 Trillion Debt Limit

[dkf]

It will be the latest sobering economic milestone that few were hoping to see: The U.S. national debt – any day now – will soar above the $15 trillion mark.

As of this writing, the total debt is $14.97 trillion, so moving beyond the symbolic $15 trillion is a foregone conclusion. When the unwelcome milestone is reached, it will come at a volatile time both in this country and abroad.

In Washington, a polarized Congress has ground to a halt in the dispute on how to jumpstart the economy and reduce the country’s deficits. Only a few months ago, the acrimonious debate on Capitol Hill about raising the debt ceiling – a debate that almost caused the Treasury Department to default on its debts – illustrated the enormous partisan divide that still shows no signs of improving.

The approaching $15 trillion debt milestone is not even the only piece of bad economic news for the country. The jobs report for October – released this morning – showed that U.S. employers added an estimated 80,000 jobs to their payrolls last month, worse than economists expected. The unemployment rate decreased to 9.0 percent, down from 9.1 percent a month earlier, small consolation for a nation still struggling to recover from a severe recession.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/11/u-s-approaches-15-trillion-debt-limit/

[Turbineguy]

1. Good for the GOP.

It gives them another chance to fuck America.

[valerief]

2. What is a trillion? There are 100 trillion cells in the human (not corporate) body.

http://www.npr.org/2011/08/22/139846133/the-trouble-with-trillions

To spend $1 trillion in the average American life span of 77 years, you will have to shell out about $35,580,857 every day.

<snip>One trillion dollars divided by 300 million Americans comes out to $3,333."

One trillion seconds add up to 31,688 years<snip>.

In a 1981 address, President Reagan explained to Congress that a stack of a trillion $1 bills would be 67 miles high.

[ellisonz]

3. What hath George W. Bush wrought!

:mad:

[badtoworse]

5. Agreed, Bush raised the national debt big time.

What has Obama done to rein it in? Answer: Nothing. If you've done nothing to fix a problem, you can only blame your predecesser for so long. After that, you look like an incompetent. Obama is well past that point. Sorry to be so harsh, but I don't see any positives that Obama has accomplished in terms of reducing our debt. Absent progress in that area, we'll be Greece in a year or two.

[high density]

7. Don't worry

I am sure the "super committee" is getting ready to bring out some great cuts to accelerate the decline of our standard of living so that the top 0.1% in our country can continue to swap even more cash amongst themselves.

[ellisonz]

8. You haven't been paying attention...

:P

[Cali_Democrat]

4. imagine if there were no Bush tax cuts or extreme defense spending

What a disaster.

[high density]

6. It's OK

The rich got their money with wars and tax cuts. Now it's time to cut Social Security, because that's obviously the source of all of our problems. We also must cut taxes more for the rich, because the GOP and its media mouthpieces tell us that lowering taxes will always bring in higher revenues.