planet earth looks blue

The deficit for 2008 is going to break $1.2 trillion.  That’s not just a tip off the ice-burg, that is an ice-burg.  The Bush Administration is dumping it into our already overflowing sea of debt, which today is $10,641,795,079,237.35.  A number so huge that the debt marker in New York City didn’t even have a place holder for the new digit, the 1 now being shared with the dollar sign.  

Breaking it all down, the deficit is the difference between the amount spent and the amount earned.  The national debt is the accumulation of the annual deficit.  Let’s not forget there is a such thing as a surplus.  If we can remember back as far as the Clinton years, we were actually accumulating national surpluses.  Despite what it feels like now, we haven’t always been on this shrieking car ride to the bottom.  But today the brake pads are worn down so much that it is literally metal scraping on metal.  Trying to slow the momentum down seems almost impossible considering the fact that we spend more on interest than we do on the Iraq War.  And with another economic stimulus package in the works when Obama takes office, well, that is how we have the behemoth deficit this year in the first place.  

Who are we in debt to?  Well, mostly the Federal Reserve and various government accounts.  And a large portion is owed to foreign governments and banks, with the three most generous lenders being China, Japan, and the United Kingdom.  But the list is a long one, including Thailand, Mexico, Russia, and India.  

Its hard not to blame the Bush administration for getting us into the current mess.  Their decisions added just under $5 trillion dollars to the debt.  That means in the history of our country, during the past eight years we accumulated a little less than half of our total debt.  Tax cuts for the rich, payouts to wall street and the banking system, two endless wars have all contributed to these absurd numbers.  Medicare and Social Security are bankrupt.  There isn’t any money for future generations, just drawers full of IOU’s for our children’s children to pay off.  

Makes you wonder how much longer we can play this game?  How long before America’s credit runs out?  

2009-01-07 

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