As of today, the US Debt per citizen is $50,433 and rising by about $12 a day. The Personal Debt (mortgages, car loans, student loans, credit card debt, etc.) per citizen is $50,428 and falling by about $7 a day. Imagine all the outstanding debts you have and then consider you owe that same amount or more if we are to pay the national debt. Let's look at that over time:
When my grandfather was 2 in 1910, his portion of the debt was $28.76.
When my father was born in 1940, his portion of the debt was $325.
When I was 3 in 1970, my portion of the debt was $1,914.
In 1980, the per citizen portion was $4,106.
In 1990, $13,000.
Of course, there has been inflation and today's dollars aren't as valuable as yesterday's dollars. Still, $30 in 1910 was not the equivalent of $50,000 today. That $325 from 1940 would be about $4,000 today. In 1990, the median income for a high school grad was $26,000. In 2009, it was $32,900. So, earnings have increased by 26% but per citizen debt has increased by 388%. Does anyone else see a problem here?
What happened in the last hundred years to explain this explosion of debt? Many would tell you that it is the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They would be wrong. The problem is entitlements that have gotten increasingly generous and are on autopilot to grow. Entitlements are a cancer that is going to kill the patient.
Overwhelming debt has done the European countries no favors, as we can plainly see. And yet, we are racing down that same path with some naive notion that it will work out for us. It won't. We are the moth and government utopia is the flame. Big government has NEVER worked out well for its citizens but we're going to see if we can be the exception.
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