Can We Continue to Max Out the US Credit Card?

Some staggering news last week, the U.S. has reached its borrowing limit of $12 Trillion. For those of you that haven't seen that kind of # here it is:

$12,000,000,000,000

Compare that to this number, the approximate U.S. Population now:

308,000,000

Now, keeping in mind that the population includes kids, elderly, etc. let us see what we currently have on our shoulders if we live in the U.S. today.

12,000,000,000,000 divided by 308,000,000 = $38,961 debt per person! Wow!

So, every man, woman, and child in the U.S. will have to cover this burden with future taxation. That's right, if we don't spend another dime and all interest was forgiven we would each have to pay nearly $39K in taxes above what the government already takes to operate the existing systems. The real truth is that burden will be levied on taxpayers, which is around 200,000,000 of us. So, scratch the 39K and let's consider it to realistically be around $60,000 for each taxpayer now.

Is it possible that spending will stop? Even slow down? Is it likely that the countries and investors that have loaned us the money will forgive the interest on the money? I gotta tell you, I'm getting very concerned about this! It seems the answer to those questions is 'NO'!

I'll speak for my family, which is comprised of 2 taxpayers. We are not ready to pay $2,000 more in taxes per year for the next 30 years. Remember, that is at 0% interest and no additional spending (this is not realistic). Those of you getting a couple thousand bucks each spring can kiss that goodbye.

The timing of this terrible burden is not short of horrible. 10.2% of us are officially unemployed, though more like 17% or 18% are really out of work or underemployed. Not only does the public need a tax break now, but business owners need it immediately to spur employment. We can explore policy and should, but history tells us that Government spending doesn't stimulate hiring, only the private sector can do this. The private sector is responsible of 2/3 or 3/4 of the jobs in the U.S. Economy, and Entrepreneurs make up most of the wealthy citizens of the U.S.

So, Obama's administration is planning to tax the rich and tax the business owners to pay for everything... aren't these the same people? If we tax the wealthy individuals that own businesses, will they just suffer the personal losses? Isn't it more likely they will take additional money from their businesses? Now, if we tax the businesses won't they have less money in their pockets to grow, expand, and most importantly HIRE more people? It seems to me that this practice will further damage the economy and further increase or maintain high levels of unemployment.

So, what needs to happen? Well, clearly we need to reign in spending immediately. Next, we need to put a hold on Health Care Reform until we have a version CERTAIN to reduce long term costs (which may not be possible if we have to cover 30 million plus uninsured). We also need to demand that Congress and the Administration address these dire issues now. Each year that goes by we will add something like $200,000,000,000 in interest on this deficit with the lowest interest rates of all time!

What do you think we should do? As public citizens, what can we do? Does this concern you too?

Worried Citizen,
Collin Hedegard
collinhedegard@gmail.com
http://twitter.com/collinhedegard