US Debt - Visualized in physical $100 bills

[Matt1970]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTBODoBaCns&feature=player_embedded

I think every politician should see this before they blindly whip out the checkbook every year. Looking at a number with a bunch of zeros after it clearly isn't doing justice.

 

[Incorruptible]

The problem is that none of these politicians care, They only want to spend more money to serve the welfare/government leeches. Gotta make sure my homies get their welfare!!

The spending is not going to stop because both parties are corrupt and serve special interests despite what the blind partisan hacks tell everyone.

 

[DrPizza]

Yep, that's a lot of money. Now, let's see about paying it off. Let's take the current population of roughly 300,000,000. As people at the top of this list die off, more people will be born to replace them. If each person worked from the age of 21 to the age of 65, that works out to roughly $1000 per year (not including interest) in taxes to cover the entire debt. I pay far far more than that each year in taxes.

I'm not trivializing the amount of debt; just saying that the video only offers perspective as to the size of the debt relative to $100 bills, but not the size of the debt relative to the population or earnings.

Of course, I think the debt needs to be reduced. But, it's not as "we're doooooomed!" as the video is hoping people instantly think.

 

[Brainonska511]

I'm not trivializing the amount of debt; just saying that the video only offers perspective as to the size of the debt relative to $100 bills, but not the size of the debt relative to the population or earnings

We should show it all in $1 bills to make it even more dramatic. This 'visualization' does nothing to help the public understand the issue of the national debt.

 

[K1052]

We should show it all in $1 bills to make it even more dramatic. This 'visualization' does nothing to help the public understand the issue of the national debt.

Yep. But looking at graphs is boring.

 

[Matt1970]

Yep, that's a lot of money. Now, let's see about paying it off. Let's take the current population of roughly 300,000,000. As people at the top of this list die off, more people will be born to replace them. If each person worked from the age of 21 to the age of 65, that works out to roughly $1000 per year (not including interest) in taxes to cover the entire debt. I pay far far more than that each year in taxes.

I'm not trivializing the amount of debt; just saying that the video only offers perspective as to the size of the debt relative to $100 bills, but not the size of the debt relative to the population or earnings.

Of course, I think the debt needs to be reduced. But, it's not as "we're doooooomed!" as the video is hoping people instantly think.

So which politician is going to come forward with a plan for a tax hike on everyone? Also keep in mind there are really only about 150,000,000 people in the workforce so you need to double that to $2000 a year for over 53 years, not 44 years. 16 trillion divided by 300 million = $53,333 owed by each us citizen and $106,000 per working stiff. No big deal huh?

 

[rudder]

When you look at the picture of our debt in trillion dollar platinum coins... it is really not that bad.

 

[Tom]

So which politician is going to come forward with a plan for a tax hike on everyone? Also keep in mind there are really only about 150,000,000 people in the workforce so you need to double that to $2000 a year for over 53 years, not 44 years. 16 trillion divided by 300 million = $53,333 owed by each us citizen and $106,000 per working stiff. No big deal huh?

Obama just did, which I applaud. And we Democrats want to eliminate more loopholes going forward.

And we all don't have to pay $53k. David Letterman and Bill Gates will pay a lot more, I will pay a lot less, if we were really going to pay it off.

Not to mention we Democrats advocate cutting 2 or 3 trillion in spending over the next 10 years.

1. Nobody in their right mind thinks we have to have no debt so we don't need to pay off all of the $16 trillion.

2. If I understand them correcty, most serious analysts of our debt don't say we need to pay any of the $16 trillion, what we need to do is arrest the trend of it increasing, pretty soon.

So despite the hysteria, the debt is a solvable problem.

What's more difficult is solving our jobs problem long term, which I believe is going to require a lot of investment in education, research, infrastructure.

 

[momeNt]

If we were to pay off our debt in fiat imaginary currency, we would have no money.

A dollar of debt is a dollar in circulation. The US treasury needs to sell debt before it can produce the currency.

Think with your brains people! Gold standard rhetoric does not apply in imaginary fiat currency. It defies the laws of supply and demand because there is zero scarcity as a resource. The only possible way for imaginary fiat money to fail is if confidence erodes and it becomes rejected!

 

[chucky2]

Doesn't really matter what the picture of the debt is currently, as by the time anything meaningful might be done about it, Trillions more will be tacked on.

IMO it's really a much better use of time getting the Pols locked into balanced budgets at the Fed and State level rather than trying to tackle reducing the debt. I'd rather see them have to adhere to a balanced budget, some kind of tech like bubble happens, increased tax revenues are realized, and so instead of a refund, it is automatically applied to the debt.

Given cutting $30B is considered draconian, it's an almost impossibility that we'll ever even be able to get to a balanced budget short of a bubble making it look like the Pols actually accomplished something. That's really how F'd we are on these two issues...

Chuck

 

[Matt1970]

Obama just did, which I applaud. And we Democrats want to eliminate more loopholes going forward.

And we all don't have to pay $53k. David Letterman and Bill Gates will pay a lot more, I will pay a lot less, if we were really going to pay it off.

Not to mention we Democrats advocate cutting 2 or 3 trillion in spending over the next 10 years.

1. Nobody in their right mind thinks we have to have no debt so we don't need to pay off all of the $16 trillion.

2. If I understand them correcty, most serious analysts of our debt don't say we need to pay any of the $16 trillion, what we need to do is arrest the trend of it increasing, pretty soon.

So despite the hysteria, the debt is a solvable problem.

What's more difficult is solving our jobs problem long term, which I believe is going to require a lot of investment in education, research, infrastructure.

Obama just proposed raising everyones' taxes? I missed that speech. I know we got a whopping $60 a year tax increase which was eaten up before we even started the year. And cutting 2 or 3 trillion in spending over the next 10 years doesn't even put us back to the deficits we ran 6 years ago, and those were unsustainable.

 

[Atreus21]

I was thinking a neat campaign promise for any presidential candidate would be to reduce the national debt by a dollar. Simply to prove that it can actually be done.

 

[gevorg]

The solution to the debt problem is pretty simple, just inflate it away! Screw savers and screw China!

 

[DrPizza]

So which politician is going to come forward with a plan for a tax hike on everyone? Also keep in mind there are really only about 150,000,000 people in the workforce so you need to double that to $2000 a year for over 53 years, not 44 years. 16 trillion divided by 300 million = $53,333 owed by each us citizen and $106,000 per working stiff. No big deal huh?

You're inflating the figure that isn't working by ignoring that many of those 300,000,000 people are children & retired former members of the work force. In a few years, those children will become members of the work force.

Of the 300,000,000 you can ignore:those born with a silver spoon who never have to work a day in their lives, those with a disability that prevents them from working. There really aren't that many people who spend their entire lives, from 18 to death, receiving welfare.

 

[Tom]

Obama just proposed raising everyones' taxes? I missed that speech. I know we got a whopping $60 a year tax increase which was eaten up before we even started the year. And cutting 2 or 3 trillion in spending over the next 10 years doesn't even put us back to the deficits we ran 6 years ago, and those were unsustainable.

Obam raised taxes with a lot of difficulty. If you want to argue about if it was EVERYONE or not, I don't care. He did what I think is best, just not far enough yet.

That's 2 or 3 trillion in cuts on top of the .5-1 trillion already cut plus 1 to 2 trillion in tax increases.

Which is 4-5 trillion total which is what Simpson/Bowles calls for.

I think they know what they are talking about.

 

[Matt1970]

You're inflating the figure that isn't working by ignoring that many of those 300,000,000 people are children & retired former members of the work force. In a few years, those children will become members of the work force.

Of the 300,000,000 you can ignore:those born with a silver spoon who never have to work a day in their lives, those with a disability that prevents them from working. There really aren't that many people who spend their entire lives, from 18 to death, receiving welfare.

Exactly, so how do you figure $1000 per person for 44 years is going to pay off $16 Trillion? If you can find me some other stats I will be happy to use them instead but BLS puts the laborforce in the US at 155 Million. The 1% will pay 20% of the debt leaving $12 Trillion for 150 Million people to pay off. That is $2000 per year for 40 years.

$12 trillion in debt divided by 150 million workers = $80,000 per worker.

 

[Vdubchaos]

They will continue spending (that's not stopping) while telling American people not to live beyond their means.



Empires die from within. Enemy is just there to take advantage of the situation at the right time.

 

[IronWing]

Now show the Bush/Obama tax cuts as a sky filled with frisbees.

 

[Matt1970]

Obam raised taxes with a lot of difficulty. If you want to argue about if it was EVERYONE or not, I don't care. He did what I think is best, just not far enough yet.

That's 2 or 3 trillion in cuts on top of the .5-1 trillion already cut plus 1 to 2 trillion in tax increases.

Which is 4-5 trillion total which is what Simpson/Bowles calls for.

I think they know what they are talking about.

There is $1.2 Trillion in tax increases? All the numbers I have seen are $950 Billion, and the first $60 Billion of that is already spent on Sandy. IF it even works that's only $890 Billion in revenue increases provided we don't just whip out the ole' checkbook again for whatever cause comes around. Also from the way I have heard it from a few different sources is the $3 Trillion you mention is just cuts in future spending increases so they really aren't cuts at all. But whatever, time will tell won't it? I am willing to bet 2016 will roll around and we will be talking about a $20 Trillion Debt.

 

[rudder]

Obam raised taxes with a lot of difficulty. If you want to argue about if it was EVERYONE or not, I don't care. He did what I think is best, just not far enough yet.

That's 2 or 3 trillion in cuts on top of the .5-1 trillion already cut plus 1 to 2 trillion in tax increases.

Which is 4-5 trillion total which is what Simpson/Bowles calls for.

I think they know what they are talking about.

Future spending cuts done by future members of congress who won't enact the cuts when the time comes... they do not dare cut money coming into their districts.

Just another mess like obamacare. We need both healthcare reform and spending reform and legislation to back it up.

 

[soulcougher73]

To me the loopholes are the reason we have so much debt. Hard to collect revenue when everyone skirts them somehow.

 

[Tom]

Exactly, so how do you figure $1000 per person for 44 years is going to pay off $16 Trillion? If you can find me some other stats I will be happy to use them instead but BLS puts the laborforce in the US at 155 Million. The 1% will pay 20% of the debt leaving $12 Trillion for 150 Million people to pay off. That is $2000 per year for 40 years.

$12 trillion in debt divided by 150 million workers = $80,000 per worker.

Why would the richest 1% pay 20% when they own 40% of the wealth ?

Seems like a good deal for them.

 

[Matt1970]

Why would the richest 1% pay 20% when they own 40% of the wealth ?

Seems like a good deal for them.

You are going to take what they already own?

 

[rudder]

To me the loopholes are the reason we have so much debt. Hard to collect revenue when everyone skirts them somehow.

Throw in a little fraud, waste, and abuse as well. But even if all loopholes were closed... do you really think tax revenues would grow enough to overcome a $1.4 trillion deficit? hardly.

 

[rudder]

Anyway... just sit and watch this a while....

http://www.usdebtclock.org/