Of late I have taken more interest in the current course of our government. I have done some summer reading and came across a statement by Thomas Jefferson:
"We shall all consider ourselves unauthorized to saddle posterity with our debts, and morally bound to pay them ourselves; and consequently within what may be deemed the period of a generation, or life of the majority." (Bergh, Writings of Thomas Jefferson, 13:358)"
I will say no more than to give just a few statistics that may help anyone with questions.
1. The U.S. national debt is roughly $13,200,000,000.
2. The interest owed on our national debt in 2009 was $383,071,060,815.42 (http://useconomy.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=useconomy&cdn=newsissues&tm=104&f=10&su=p649.3.336.ip_&tt=11&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http%3A//www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/ir/ir_expense.htm). Due to a terrible economy interest rates have gone down so this years interest will be simulair to the last.
3. The projected deficit for 2011 is $1.3 trillion. What does that mean? A budget deficit would mean you spend more than you make. To illustrate pretend you are an average American making $60,000 a year. With everything you buy you end up spending $75,000 that year. Sound like that pretend you has some serious problems...? This isn't pretend to our government, it is reality and has been for a long time.
Does this begin to appear out of control? Or even sustainable? If you know anything about making and keeping a budget then you'll notice things have gone wrong and far from the wise words of advice from one of our great founding fathers.
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