Over at Conservative Home, Ryan Streeter writes about the stunning depth and scope our national debt (he and R4’12 alum Dustin Siggins just penned an Op-Ed for the Washington Examiner on this issue):
Last Friday, Dustin Siggins and I argued in an op-ed in the Examiner that if more Americans understood just how big and bad our federal debt has become, we might see more efforts to drum up the political will to reform entitlements – our biggest long-term debt drivers.
Americans are used to hearing massive and incomprehensible figures such as $14 trillion when talking about the debt. But we decided to put it all in perspective by bringing the debt figure down to the ground. What is it per worker? Per couple?
We had some figures in the piece, but we also had quite a bit more based on original research using BLS and Treasury figures (Dustin gets the credit for running the numbers). I wanted to lay some of those out here so that readers can get a full sense of the debt picture. These numbers are pretty scary.
We have collected these figures in a chart that you can view here.
Here’s a summary of some main points, both from the op-ed and in the chart.
- A couple’s share of the national debt was $8,200 50 years ago, is $202,000 today, and will reach $320,000 by 2021.
- By 2021, the federal debt will be more than 4.5 times the size it was just 20 years earlier.
- Between 1961 and 1981, federal revenue climbed as a percentage of national debt from 33 percent to 60 percent, but it has dropped since then to 27 percent in 2005 and 17 percent in 2011.
- The debt per American worker in 1961 was $4,101. In 1981, it was $9,182. In 2001, it was $40,404. Today, it is $101,150. And in 2021, ten years from now, it will be $161,631.
- In 1981 our national debt as a percentage of of GDP was 32%. It will be 102% by the end of this year.
The chart that Mr. Streeter referred to is partially reproduced below:
March 29th, 2011 at 1:14 pm
$320,000 per couple by 2021 is a big house with a pool bought and payed for.
March 29th, 2011 at 1:15 pm
Yes, I saw this yesterday on ConservativeHome and thought about posting it here. Very good piece.
March 29th, 2011 at 1:23 pm
I believe that no currency has ever survived debt exceeding 100% of GDP.
And Newt Gingrich is telling us the issues of the religious right are more important than economics.
March 29th, 2011 at 1:38 pm
And Daniels lost momentum for calling for a truce so we can save ourselves.
You know what? I say screw Iowa. If none of the mainstream candidates went to Iowa, it would render it meaningless. Which it has increasingly become.
March 29th, 2011 at 1:47 pm
1. Oops, payed = paid
March 29th, 2011 at 1:58 pm
Anyone that thinks Social Issues and Fiscal Issues don’t go hand in hand have no clue how much the “dad deficit” cost us. Personal responsibility is a moral issue. Calling a truce on moral issues will not help us get out of debt anytime soon. Maybe we need a little more politics preached from the pulpit and a little more morality preached in politics.
March 29th, 2011 at 1:59 pm
#3 Italy and Japan are still going; most of the western world has debt equal or above us. However, it still remains we must tackle the debt and we can through reconciliation in 2013. If Obama gets reelected, we’ll lose our triple a rating.
One more thing, Daniels is probably the worst GOP campaigner in a while. Even Trump is more pro-life than Daniels. Candidates who are religiously focused lose the nomination (eg Huckabee, Robertson), while pro-choice candidates never do well (Giuliani, Weld, Specter, Wilson, McCain 2000). It’s always someone in between: Pro-life while having a broad appeal. There are only 2-3 candidates who do that this cycle.
March 29th, 2011 at 2:02 pm
We have candidates who are aware of the extent and scope of the problem and are willing to do what’s necessary to turn things around. For example, check out chapter 6, “The Worst Generation”, in Romney’s policy book, “No Apology:”
“The debts and financial obligations we are on track to leave the next generations will be so huge that they will preclude our children from achieving the American dream. Never before has there been a generation of Americans that has imperiled the following generations’ opportunity for achievement and advance as we have done.”
Or: “The problem is so deep-seated that relatively few of us in the postwar “boomer” generation even understood at a basic level how we are compromising future generations. If we did, I’m convinced that we would do whatever it takes to set things right.”
He lays out the details of the problem in more specificity in the chapter, and in the book, and puts together a comprehensive program to solve the problem.
Altogether, it’s only a MUST read if you want to have a future.
March 29th, 2011 at 2:13 pm
Kavon,
Off topic but both Gallup and PPP (Mississipi) have new polls out today.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/146864/Huckabee-Continues-Lead-GOP-Positive-Intensity-Tracking.aspx?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=syndication&utm_content=plaintextlink&utm_term=Politics
March 29th, 2011 at 2:16 pm
Rumor I hear on TV obama to make his formal 2012 kick off announcement ”around” april 14th..
March 29th, 2011 at 2:24 pm
#6 The dad deficit is directly tied to divorce. Unfortunately 68% of divorce is initiated… by women. In my case a cheating woman. So we need to terminate no-fault divorce and go back to fault based divorce. Women these days have too much incentive to screw around knowing that a big fat alimony check awaits them when they walk out. Let’s remove that incentive.
March 29th, 2011 at 2:29 pm
Mississippi discussion will be very interesting. Racism and bigotry will be talked about alot based on internal numbers.
March 29th, 2011 at 2:36 pm
Nate, #11, the dad deficit in the case of African American families has to do with the complete collapse of the family structure. It’ll take a sea change to restore this structure and right now there’s no will in the African American community to do it when their culture promotes sexualized rap et al.
What you’re talking about is what’s happening to white families. I feel for you, which is why I’m very hesitant to get married. The case for marriage for men is getting less and less every year, which is why more articles are starting to be written about the subject, even in liberal mags, etc. That should tell you everything about what’s happening out there.
March 29th, 2011 at 2:51 pm
Have you heard about “Demographic Winter” and how the negative population growth is affecting the economy?
March 29th, 2011 at 3:00 pm
#13 Well if you do get married in the United States be prepared to surrender your children, assets, past, and future income to your wife when she meets some guy on facebook and gets “bored” with you. The statistics are not in your favor.
March 29th, 2011 at 3:28 pm
If we continue on this path, I do not think we will live as a country to see 2021 tbh. We will default long before then and we will be involved with tons of wars.
March 29th, 2011 at 3:30 pm
New PPP tweets..
March 29th, 2011 at 3:33 pm
Kavon,
Have you seen the pictures in Huckabee’s new book that show what a trillion dollars looks like stacked up next to a man? This image looks very similar to the one he used in his book:
http://www.funny-potato.com/images/money/trillion/trillion-dollars.jpg
March 31st, 2011 at 1:24 pm
We’re watching a train wreck, and I see absolutely no one in a position to stop it.
July 21st, 2011 at 4:39 pm
Look the future is in your hands – you just need to educate yourself to think non-traditional. More millionaires are created in a recession than during any other time. Trust me the answers out there just be open minded
November 1st, 2011 at 1:54 pm
[...] for 2012 and noticed that there was a lot of information about US National Debt. I found a post on Stunning Figures on National Debt which was [...]