Tag: 16 trillion dollars

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heavy, heady, hard…

Greetings, friends…

 

Typical Intramuralist pattern is to go from one topic to the next.  We keep current with what’s current, making sure that we’re paying attention to what deserves it — and alas, not paying attention to what does not.

 

In the past 2 weeks, my sober sense believes there have been 2 topics that are too weighty to simply glance over in a few days.  After all, isn’t that what we’re already prone to do?

 

When a topic is too heavy, we tend to say, “Well, that can wait for another day.  It’s too much to think about.  It hurts too much”… or perhaps most common, “I’d prefer not to dwell on that.”  It’s easier to let the truth go.

 

When a topic is too heady, we tend to say, ”Well, that can also wait for another day.  It’s too hard to figure out — above my pay grade.”  We’d also prefer not to dwell on that.  It, too, is easier to let go.

 

Our challenge is that it’s always easier to let go; it’s easier to ignore the truth than to wrestle with it — and deeper still, to acknowledge any individual impact.

 

Frankly, I think that’s one of the reasons so many of us (and perhaps a larger percentage of non-Intramuralist readers) avoid the news; it’s too hard to pay attention to…

 

… it’s hard to turn on the news each night and see the fighting.

 

… it’s hard to witness the millions of persons who go to bed hungry each night.

 

… it’s hard to see the depth of despair, the perils of poverty, the foolishness, salaciousness, selfishness, impurity, and evil that are evident on this planet on a daily basis.

 

It’s hard.

 

And so when the Intramuralist, for example, initiates conversation on the core beliefs of Islam, I understand that’s hard.  Within the Qur’an, there is specific encouragement to fight against those who are unbelievers solely because they do not believe.  I realize that is not convenient nor easy to comprehend — and it would feel far better to believe something else — but that’s not what the Qur’an says; there is a definite distinction in the way Muslims are exhorted to treat believers and unbelievers.

 

That’s hard.  That’s heavy.

 

Perhaps too heady was our conversation 2 weeks ago entitled “16 trillion dollars.”  16 trillion dollars!

 

The outstanding public debt of the United States of America now surpasses $16,000,000,000,000.  In fact, out debt currently increases at a average, nominal rate of approximately $3.88 billion per day.  Another way to assess that massive amount is that with an estimated U.S. population of 313,521,685, each citizen’s share of this debt is $51,225.60.  In other words, your children’s and grandchildren’s share will be far higher if we do not work to pay this back now.

 

But… “I like all the entitlements… I like the free healthcare, contraception, retirement, and individual household candy bar machines!”  (… ok, so I’m kidding about the candy bars… they’d have fruit instead).  Liking the entitlements often prompts us to ignore the reality.  Why?

 

Because the reality is hard.  It’s also heady.

 

In order to be a wise people, we have to be able to wrestle with the truth… no matter what it is… how heavy… and how heady…

 

… also, no matter how it makes us feel.

 

Respectfully,

AR

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16 trillion dollars

$16,000,000,000,000.

Sixteen trillion dollars.  16 trillion dollars, friends.

 

Let me be clear:  this is not a partisan post.  This post will be factual and objective.  It will also be sobering.  The outstanding public debt of the United States of America is now almost the 14 digit $16,000,000,000,000.

 

Now for those of you who equate any accounting with an obscure foreign language, allow me to first simply explain the difference between our deficit and our debt.  The deficit is the fiscal year difference between how much the government takes in verses how much it spends.  The debt is the accumulation of these deficits.  In other words, to amass a debt of sixteen trillion dollars, the United States government has been spending beyond its means for years.  It is our pattern.  (Warning:  this next sentence will be opinion…)  This pattern of spending beyond our means for years is incredibly foolish.

 

(Now back to facts.)

 

When we objectively ask what has contributed to this massive, almost unfathomable number (and avoid analysis via any partisan filter), we must evaluate the annual deficits under each administration.  In order to compare apples to apples, so-to-speak, the deficit is expressed as a percentage of our country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).  Again for my foreign language avoidant friends, GDP is the total value of all the goods and services produced in a country in a given year.

 

So comparing our past presidents’ deficits (since dollar amounts would be an inaccurate comparison), going back to 1968, U.S. presidents have amassed the following annual deficits as a percentage of GDP:  (the more negative the percentage, the larger the deficit)

 

Richard Nixon -1.6%

Gerald Ford -3.5%

Jimmy Carter -2.4%

Ronald Reagan -4.3%

George H.W. Bush -4.3%

Bill Clinton -0.1%

George W. Bush -3.2%

Barack Obama -8.3%

 

(Source:  Office of Management and Budget)

 

Now each president gives us their justification for why the deficit has to be so large; some presidents like to give us that justification over and over… and over.  For Pres. Bush 43, it was the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  For Pres. Obama, it is the “worst recession since the Great Depression.”

 

The Intramuralist has 3 concluding opinions:  One, I’m tired of the justifications.  Two, many fairly loud critics should be much more thankful for one William Jefferson Clinton.

 

And three…

 

For the last 3 years, we have not made any progress in lessening the deficit and lowering our debt.  I remember VP Biden’s public address where he said we have to “spend more money to keep from going bankrupt.”  With all due respect to Joe Biden, we have spent more money for far too long, and if we continue this pattern, we will go bankrupt.

 

This is not a partisan question; it is a serious, sobering, nonpartisan question.  Who has a plan to pay down the debt?  Who will do so aggressively?  Who will not get caught in partisan politics and political power plays?  Who will recognize that this is most important?

 

As Condoleezza Rice exhorted last Wednesday night, “When the world looks at us today, they see an American government that cannot live within its means. They see a government that continues to borrow money, mortgaging the future of generations to come. The world knows that when a nation loses control of its finances, it eventually loses control of its destiny. That is not the America that has inspired others to follow our lead.”

 

Amen, Condi.

 

Let me add one more opinion:  if we cannot solve this fiscal crisis, cliff, or whatever any pundit desires to call it — just like any financial entity or household — we will cease to exist.  No entitlement will matter.  No social issue will matter.  If we don’t exist, no issue matters.  Pick your passion…  abortion, gay marriage, gun control, this rhetorical war on women, healthcare, defense spending, social security, you-name-it.  With all due respect — regardless of the position of your passion — none of these will matter if  we don’t get our fiscal house in order first.

 

Respectfully,

AR