Now, I’ve got some debt for sure. I went to an incredibly over-priced private school, I’ve made a handful of albums and last year I bought a mini-van. All of these things contribute to a me owing “the man”, or more accurately, “the men”. I’m sure most of us are in the same boat. But I’m curious, what do y’all think about the national debt? I pulled this graph off of the Washingtion Post’s site. It’s a comparison of the Bush era budget and the projected Obama budget. These numbers are so huge they don’t even register with me anymore. My mind goes numb when people start saying trillion or hundreds of billions. Those kinds of figures are so far removed from my experience that they literally don’t phase me anymore. I just kind of shrug my shoulders and say, “Ah, well. It’s so big and I’m so small it can’t possibly effect me. I mean, it’s not like I’m going to have to pay it back by myself.” I heard different numbers for the debt per capita or per family owed. In other words, if we were to split up the national debt and have each household pay an equal amount. It would look something like $40 grand a piece. We may not ever have to pay a lump sum like that, but for sure our taxes are going to reach epic numbers like 70-78% of our income sooner than later.
We haven’t owed zero as a nation since Andrew Jackson was president. And back then it was in the hundred thousands and the one millions. That makes me think that, perhaps in our lifetime (should we live to be old, God willing), the national debt will soar into numbers that we haven’t even dreamed of. I doubt the founding fathers ever dreamed of numbers like trillions and quazillions.
“…the true patriotism, the only rational patriotism, is loyalty to the Nation ALL the time, loyalty to the Government when it deserves it.” -Mark Twain
Peace, hope and love.
No comments:
Post a Comment