Tick-tock goes the United States debt clock
by
David Grand
November 9, 2005
I've always had a high threshold to pain. But it was severely tested, when I went to a web site titled US National Debt Clock, which shows the outstanding pubic debt by specific date and time; and the corresponding growth in the US population from the US Bureau of Census' population clock.
When I saw the debt figure of $7,996,980,144,867.98 for Oct. 15 (increasing an average $1.63 billion per day, with each citizen's share of the debt at $26,886.53), my eyes began rolling like wheels on a slot machine. But I wasn't shook-up that the population was 297,434,413. (Hard times doesn't slow people down from multiplying, as evidenced by the high birth rates in poverty-stricken, third world countries.)
Other than known it takes one thousand billions, or one million millions, to make a trillion, and that the president's proposed budget for FY 2006 is $2.56 trillion, my mind can't fathom so many zeros. But some math wizard put it in terms I could comprehend, by figuring how long it'd take him to count to a billion: "If it takes me a second for each number (which is somewhat unrealistic), then it would take me about 24 hours to count to 86,400, less than half a month to count to a million, and more than 30 years to count to a billion." He should live so long without eating or sleeping.
So, now that he's simplified it for us, we'll have a better idea of the amount of money we're talking about when, for example, we learn:
- The federal budget deficit stands at $319 billion (down from the record $413 billion in 2004); but that the estimated $250 billion for hurricane recovery costs could push it to almost $600 billion. No wonder the newborn baby cries out, because of the debit it's inheriting.
- Pensions are underfunded by $450 billion; that the number of company-sponsored pension plans has plunged from 112,200 in 1985 to 29,700 today; that pension plans are increasingly being replaced by uninsured 401(k)s, which were never intended as retirement plans, and present more of a risk, as employees of Enron and WorldCom can attest to, who lost $1 billion when their 401(k) plans collapsed; and that the government-funded Pension Benefit Guarantee Corp. has gone from a $7 billion surplus in 2002 to a $23 billion deficit today.
- The trade deficit as of August grew 1.8 percent to $59.03 billion, due to higher prices for imported oil, and Asian economies' cheap currencies and exports. And with China's Yuan kept artificially cheaper than its actual value by 15 percent. (No more my shopping at Wal-Mart.)
- Foreign interests own 44 percent of US Treasury Bonds (led by Japan owning 38 percent). And God help us if they ever decide to cash in their chips. Japanese could become our second language.
- Seven billion is spent a month for the war in Iraq, which would cost $570 billion by 2010, if we were to maintain our current troop strength. And if we end up invading Iran and/or Syria--an option Bush said "isn't off the table"--there'd be no more debate about re-instituting the draft.
- Banks, thrifts and credit unions raked in $37 billion in service charges in 2004, twice that of 1984.
- Americans carry about $731.5 billion in credit card debts, triple the amount in 1990; that rates and fees have skyrocketed (up to $35 in late fees); and that some major issuers charge late-payers interest rates of 30 percent or more, even when the late payment was to another creditor. (A 1978 court ruling abolished credit-card interest rate limits, and a 1996 ruling struck down a limit on fees.)
But I don't want to end with you thinking that I'm a gloom and doom kinda guy, for there is one bit of good news I can pass along to the 47.03 million Social Security recipients: next year, there'll be a 4.1 percent boost in their checks, an average $39 more a month, a week's groceries for many.
