15.2 TRILLION and there ain’t no stopping us now
January 9, 2012 was a historic day in America. It came and went without much notice in the press or by the millions of Americans affected. Without Congressional approval, without a vote, without a whimper, the debt limit was automatically raised and the national debt became a record 15.2 trillion dollars.
The new debt number exceeds the total Gross Domestic Product of the entire nation,* which was $15.176 trillion in 2011. As Americans we should be outraged. We should recall and impeach all our elected officials who silently approved. But will we?
No. Most Americans don’t even realize the danger. Most won’t care until collapse is imminent. Then just like in Greece, riots will erupt and people will be confused wondering why they never saw this coming. I’ve been predicting this since 2004 and writing about it here since 2008. People smarter than me have as well, but no one listens.
Would you like some fries with that?
Some with shallow understandings of macro economics argue, “it’s a harmless debt, we owe it to ourselves.” That’s like walking across the Sahara without water and saying, “But it’s a dry heat.” Nor is it unlike a 900 pound man claiming the extra 1300 calories in the Monster Thickburger won’t make a difference in his 20,000 calorie per day diet. In both examples the result is the same. Read more
