The US National Debt

I am not a super political person but our national debt really wears on me. During the past 8 years our fantastic government has cut through our money at an unbelievable pace nearly doubling the debt. Our debt grow by about $3.8 billion per day since late 2007. Each US citizen's share of the debt is about $35,000. Also, we spend out first six months of tax revenue just to pay interest. This makes me puke!

How did our debt grow so quickly over the past 8 years? Here are three of the basic reasons:

Bush did three things to skyrocket the debt from $5.7 trillion to $10 trillion:

1. He lowered taxes on the rich (by far the biggest item).
2. He invaded Iraq instead of winning in Afghan-Pakistan (another $600 B).
3. He deregulated Wall Street speculators. That bailout has now "invested" $1T.

This is not entirely the governments fault. I remember during the last years in the mortgage industry borrowers taking loans that were really putting them on the edge financially. Why? Because the loans got approved at ridiculous Debt-to-income ratios. Now these borrowers and lenders are suffering or in the lenders case just gone. Check out this web site to see what I mean by "just gone". It's called The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter.

I am concerned for my generation but mostly for my kids generation. Unless our newly elected leaders set a new direction from a financial management stand point we are in real trouble. However, what do I know?


Cross your fingers and hope for the best!