Let me draw your attention to a few facts.
- Congress is spending 185% of what it takes in
- Our deficit is a post WWII record of 13% of GDP
- Our debt is growing by 1% a month
- We are borrowing $1.8 trillion a year
$1.8 trillion is a ton of money. In an Editorial for the New York Times, Warren Buffet states, “Even if the Chinese lend us $400 billion a year and Americans save a remarkable $500 billion and lend it to the government, we’ll still need another $900 billion.”
Where will it come from? Printing presses. So while we increase our debt we’re devaluing the dollar. That is bad news for the lower class. They are the class hit hardest by inflation. They’re income is the slowest to increase and they spend the highest percentage of their income on food and consumer goods. I like to call inflation a tax on the lower and middle class. And the upper class will get their taxes hiked way up in the process. Something has to give. We can’t keep this up forever. Here is a table showing the deficit for the past several years.
| Date | Dollar Amount |
|---|---|
| 09/30/2008 | 10,024,724,896,912.49 |
| 09/30/2007 | 9,007,653,372,262.48 |
| 09/30/2006 | 8,506,973,899,215.23 |
| 09/30/2005 | 7,932,709,661,723.50 |
| 09/30/2004 | 7,379,052,696,330.32 |
| 09/30/2003 | 6,783,231,062,743.62 |
| 09/30/2002 | 6,228,235,965,597.16 |
| 09/30/2001 | 5,807,463,412,200.06 |
| 09/30/2000 | 5,674,178,209,886.86 |
I don’t want to talk about who is to blame because everyone is to blame. We the people are to blame. We elect our officials, we take on consumer debt, we think the government should provide way more than it should. It is time to take an evaluation of your values. I invite you to get out of debt. Save money for a rainy day (so you don’t have to turn to Uncle Sam – his pockets have a big hole in them), Then help your neighbor to do the same. That is the only way we as a people can save this country from collapse. Each individual has to do their part.
On a happier note…
Real Life Timon and Pumba
