USA Today said:Bottom line: Taxpayers are now on the hook for a record $59.1 trillion in liabilities, a 2.3% increase from 2006. That amount is equal to $516,348 for every U.S. household. By comparison, U.S. households owe an average of $112,043 for mortgages, car loans, credit cards and all other debt combined.
Unfunded promises made for Medicare, Social Security and federal retirement programs account for 85% of taxpayer liabilities. State and local government retirement plans account for much of the rest.
This hidden debt is the amount taxpayers would have to pay immediately to cover government's financial obligations. Like a mortgage, it will cost more to repay the debt over time. Every U.S. household would have to pay about $31,000 a year to do so in 75 years.
From: USATODAY.com
No surprises here. Not really a partisan issue either, no one wants to end up where we're going. No one can really believe that we could stand pat as things are right now, and carry on forever.
A few years ago, a few economists were bold enough to claim the US was past the point of recovery in terms of economic sustainability. I imagine there are more of those voices today, but one does have to wonder where the proverbial line in the sand is.
Without regard to the value of the war in Iraq, the reasons for going there, the reasons for staying -- the truth is that we've broken the back of the military at least in the short term (per Collin Powell and basically any general grade officer, active or retired, who has opened their mouths), and in the process, dumped a staggering amount of money into it, to accomplish a dictatorial overthrow that could have been accomplished by a SEAL team with the same resulting upheaval, instability, and global outrage. I'm not being totally serious there, and I don't want to get bogged down with arguments about why it's important we do or don't stay in Iraq, because it's not relevant to the point. But we're there at the expense of here. Any doubt about that was erased by Katrina, tornadoes, the health care crisis, our current inability to exert ourselves militarily anywhere else in the world.
I don't care about Republicans shitting on Democrats over this, or Dems shitting on Reps, or Reps shitting on Reps, or Dems shitting on Dems. That's all a pointless exercise in futility.
We reach a point where terms like oligarchy and crony capitalism are tossed around without much concern, when the stench of deep corruption in and between major corporations and different levels of government isn't so much considered a stench as it is just the odor we've acclimated to.
What to do?
Kill all social programs? That would be great if the poor weren't getting poorer and could provide for themselves. Expand social programs? How does someone look at their checkbook, see red, and think, "I should build an addition to my house?" Become more isolationist? Less so?
Social Darwinism failed as an experiment in this country a long time ago, and yet we've gravitated back to that, and in some areas taken it to new extremes. Without getting into Bush as a president, I think all sides would agree that he did not end up being the fiscal conservative that his supporters and party were promised, or perhaps that they just hoped.
Meanwhile, as our very foundation crumbles beneath us, we fight a civil war across party, religious, and ideological lines, that draws our attention and energy away from the real problems. I won't parrot Al Gore here, but it's hard to argue his point that 'we' care more about Lindsay Lohan, Tom Cruise, and Kevin Federline than the issues that define our quality of life and country.
None of this is really about belief or perspective. Would anyone claim that we're not in a state of crisis on a number of levels? If so, please do explain.
I'm not going to ask something ridiculous like "how does all of this get fixed?" I mean, if you can answer that, for Pete's sake, please run in 2008 -- for anything. My question is whether or not it can be. Can the normal ebb and flow of prosperity/recession, conservatism/liberalism, etc. produce enough of a correction that we maintain a sustainable baseline, or is that which ails us so pervasive at this point that those economic experts who predict our demise right?
Can minor/normal changes and adjustments do it? Meaning, can we get by without rethinking our basic foundations for belief and ideology?
Our armed forces are exhausted, and broken to the point where it will take many years to recover. Meanwhile, China is modernizing and spending at a rate that's been disconcerting for a few years.
We're in a ridiculous amount of debt at a time where our poor are as isolated from the basics that we assume as American qualities of life. Meanwhile, China's economy is exploding, and studies/polls circulate trying to get a grip on what the global consequences might be if theirs surpasses our own.
We have two notions of justice, ethics, and duty in this country. One for the real people who face rules related to each. One for the corporations, who are essentially people without duty in the eyes of the law, and don't face the same rules. The latter, with the money and position, to play a much greater role in the shaping of law and government than the former. More than that, the shaping of public perception, which rules all. Perspective is more 'real' than reality these days. How the public is approached, who has the best PR, often deciding the very shape and importance of the issues we're allowed to face at any given time.
This post isn't trying to lead towards a discussion about the death of democracy, just the sustainability of our current version of it. I really don't think it's a party issue at its core, even if it is on its face. I won't invoke the imagery of Nero fiddling as Rome burns, but one could for the sake of humor, if there's any to be found. I'm not Chicken Little, or an alarmist. On the contrary, I'm inclined to believe that what we're seeing right now is all part of a very organic process, what I don't know is what that translates into in our generation, in our children's generation, theirs, etc.
Would love to see people unload their individual thoughts on this, if they try to avoid canned talking points and other products of PR campaigns. If the best athletes always strive to be better, then the 'best' country should too. If we're the best, or even if we're not, how to we become better?
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