Powered By Blogger

Thursday, January 12, 2012

The National Debt Now Exceeds Economic Output

Republicans Blast Obama After National Debt Surpasses Economic Output Fox News

Obama With Lew Jack Lew, the administration's current budget director along with President Obama

In some not-so-surprising news, the Bureau of Economic Analysis stated the U.S. gross domestic product reached $15.7 trillion at the end of the third quarter in 2011.  That number is higher today, but the formal report for the fourth quarter hasn't been released yet.  What is tragic is the national debt is currently at $15.23 trillion and is expected to spiral upward with the president's latest debt-ceiling increase, the 100% GDP-to-debt threshold has finally been reached.  Republican lawmakers such as Florida Senator Marco Rubio have been complaining about how the deficit is out of control.  Rubio says it's like watching a horror movie.  It increasingly grows worse with no end in sight.  Is America headed in the same pathway as Greece? I say so.  How soon it will be before we default on our debt I don't know.  The thing we must recognize is we are beholden to China and other countries who hold our debt.  If China were to decide to stop purchasing our treasury bills, our nation would probably already default on its debt.  It's China agreeing to purchase our debt is why our deficit isn't higher than what it already is.  The debt level should've already exceeded the total economic output in a given year some time ago.  With China purchasing our debt, we're becoming enslaved to that country.  China's not going to continually purchasing our treasury bills without requiring some kind of collateral.

We can point our fingers in a number of directions.  Here's the truth of the matter:  Both political parties (Democrats and Republicans) are at fault with the spiraling national debt.  That includes former president George W. Bush and the Republican Congress who was in charge during most of his administration.  This also includes the Democrats who took charge in 2007 and President Obama throughout his presidency from 2009 to present.  House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and the Republican House are also at fault.  There hasn't been any significant budget cuts from 2011 if even that.  I know conservatives will argue that President Obama and Senate Democrats have made it impossible for budget cuts to take place.  However, the Republican House has the power to choke off funding for wasteful spending such as Obamacare, much of government bureaucracy, and other types of wasteful spending that takes places in Washington on a continual basis.  The House hasn't utilized their power to eliminate wasteful, unconstitutional spending.  Therefore, they're worthless and deserve the blame for the climbing deficit.  The interest on the debt alone is astounding.  I believe the interest on the national debt is in the billions.  It doesn't appear there's anyway to turn this economy around.  If there is, it will have to be done within the next couple of years or its over with for the United States as a sovereign country.

To read the full story, click on the above link from the FoxNews.com website. 

No comments:

Post a Comment