NATIONAL DEBT

You know that when you borrow money the lender charges you interest on it until you pay it back.  It's a good idea to avoid borrowing whenever you can. The faster you pay back the money, the less interest you have to pay. 

The United States of America borrows money to do all the things that the government (President and Congress) wants to do.  That's what it spends.  It collects money from individuals and businesses in the form of taxes and the like.  It has been borrowing more that it collects for a long time. The borrowing is done by selling securities like bonds with a guaranteed interest rate.  Individuals, businesses, foreign governments, state and local governments are the buyers.  We either pay these guys back for what that bought or pay them interest.  

So, by now you're asking "just how much money are we talking about?"  Here it is.  The amount of money the government has borrowed and not paid back is in excess of $35,000,000,000,000.00.  (That's about a $1 million for every person in the country.)   So, now you ask, "just how much interest do we have to pay in order to not pay this back?"  Through the end of July we have paid $763 billion so far this year.  That means we are paying about $3,000,000,000.00 each day by the end of the year.  $3 billion every day.  

Friends, this is unsustainable.  We can't keep this up.  The economic path we are on will eventually bankrupt the country.  Cleaning up waste in government won't even make a dent in this problem (although it would help).  We have a choice:  to increase taxes immensely or cut down on new spending and cut back on already committed spending or both.   What would you choose?  What government benefit would you give up?   (Not fair (selfish) for those over 60 to choose to put off solving the problem because the catastrophe wont occur until you're gone.)  

What do you think?