$200,000,000,000,000.00
This is what happens when you abandon real money, that is, gold.
$200,000,000,000,000.00.
That is the approximate amount that the federal government owes in debt and unfunded obligations.
I say “approximate,” of course, because that debt continues to grow from yearly massive deficits and never-ending interest on the debt, the latter of which mushrooms as interest rates skyrocket.
It’s a hopelessly large sum of cash.
And if you REALLY believe that the United States will EVER pay off the $200,000,000,000,000.00 debt/unfounded obligations it owes, I have a bridge in Brooklyn you might be interested in purchasing.
The only realistic options are massive inflation that steals even more of our wealth until the whole system collapses or defaulting on that debt—in effect declaring openly the non-secret that our nation is bankrupt—and unprecedented devaluation of our currency.
Neither option is something to look forward to. But I think I would prefer the latter course of events. More honest, at least.
What’s coming will make the Great Depression feel like a stroll in the park.
Just the current debt means that every man, woman, child, and baby in this country “owes” about $600,000.00 as his or her portion of that amount.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t have $600,000.00 dollars just lying around…
Even if you stole all the wealth from the richest people in this country, that might total around five-trillion dollars. The debt is forty times that amount.
Even if the federal government spent ZERO from now on—NO federal spending on ANYTHING—and used the ENTIRE $3+ trillion budget each year to pay down the debt, it would take about 67 YEARS just to get even. And, of course, this ignores the role of interest on the debt, an interest amount that will not miraculously disappear.
And the national debt excludes state debt, an amount that is well over a trillion dollars in-and-of-itself.
As the Chinese curse goes: May you live in interesting times…
$200,000,000,000,000.00.
Money: Gold and Silver vs. Fiat
I would wager a reasonable amount of money that the vast majority of Americans don’t know that the U.S. Constitution demands that states use ONLY gold and silver for money. Article 1, Section 10, of the United States Constitution says that states are denied the power to “make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts…” (Sates are al…
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