Half a Million Dollars

[Hobbit]

For just this measly amount, you can pay your household's share of the national debt. You could buy multiple houses for that much, and it's just what the government has spent above and beyond what it already collects in taxes. If you remove the asinine congressional book-keeping methods and use corporate accounting methods...as REQUIRED by the SEC...the all kinds of interesting things come up. Did you know Congress doesn't count SS payouts or military or government employee retirement plans in the deficit. Yeah, it was actually $1.3 trillion, about quadruple what was reported, and more than twice what was paid in taxes. If the government decided to stop spending ANY money ever again until the debt was paid off, it would cost each American household $31,000 per year for the next 75 years. This is compared to the approximately $112,000 the average household has in personal debt. How long before the fed has to use one credit card to pay off another?

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-05-28-federal-budget_N.htm

[5stringJeff]

How long before the fed has to use one credit card to pay off another?

Never. They just print more money.

I've got to say, though, all debt is not bad. All those 2-year, 10-year, and 30-year treasury bonds that people buy for their ultra-secure investments? That's where a large portion of the national debt resides.