RickStain
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2009
- Messages
- 25,530
Regardless of the general theories behind it, right now this country is in a crap-ton of debt and more taxes are going to have to be paid by everyone.
The years of borrowing are finally catching up with us, and I honestly am beginning to think politicians on all side are just desperately trying to put the crash a few years into the future in the hopes that it will be somebody else's blame or that there's some kind of economic miracle.
Right now, the government is borrowing $1.4 trillion a year and pumping into the economy, and we *still* have 10% unemployment and unimpressive growth. Take away that borrowing support, and who knows how awful it could get.
But by the same token, every year that we borrow at this level, it gets that much harder for the economy to be able to handle things on its own. We pay about $0.4 trillion (roughly 3% of GDP) in interest on our debt alone, and at the current pace, the yearly debt interest is growing by about 10% a year. That's money that gets taken out in taxes and provides us with no benefit whatsoever in the present. And if our creditors ever decide to stop buying it at the extremely cheap rates they get right now, that gets even worse.
It's scary that we've had unemployment this bad for this long. It's a lot more scary to realize we are borrowing unprecedented amounts of just to keep this good. The only time we've borrowed at this level before is for WWII, and we were able to make it up in the aftermath because every other major economic power in the world was either devastated by the war on its own soil or chaining itself to inefficient economic systems. This time, our European competitors don't look so hot, but many other emerging economies are coming on the scene.
Long story short: It's almost certainly going to get ugly eventually, and every year that we put it off, we make it that much more inevitable and that much worse when it comes.
The years of borrowing are finally catching up with us, and I honestly am beginning to think politicians on all side are just desperately trying to put the crash a few years into the future in the hopes that it will be somebody else's blame or that there's some kind of economic miracle.
Right now, the government is borrowing $1.4 trillion a year and pumping into the economy, and we *still* have 10% unemployment and unimpressive growth. Take away that borrowing support, and who knows how awful it could get.
But by the same token, every year that we borrow at this level, it gets that much harder for the economy to be able to handle things on its own. We pay about $0.4 trillion (roughly 3% of GDP) in interest on our debt alone, and at the current pace, the yearly debt interest is growing by about 10% a year. That's money that gets taken out in taxes and provides us with no benefit whatsoever in the present. And if our creditors ever decide to stop buying it at the extremely cheap rates they get right now, that gets even worse.
It's scary that we've had unemployment this bad for this long. It's a lot more scary to realize we are borrowing unprecedented amounts of just to keep this good. The only time we've borrowed at this level before is for WWII, and we were able to make it up in the aftermath because every other major economic power in the world was either devastated by the war on its own soil or chaining itself to inefficient economic systems. This time, our European competitors don't look so hot, but many other emerging economies are coming on the scene.
Long story short: It's almost certainly going to get ugly eventually, and every year that we put it off, we make it that much more inevitable and that much worse when it comes.
