If you want a stern dose of reality I recommend visiting an important website, one to keep you in touch with the real world in a society where media and political spin abound. The site is USDebtClock.Org and all you need to do is look at the steadily changing, ever flickering numbers that literally jump out at you to get in touch with the real economic world. As I write this the grand total stands at over $12.4 trillion.
That encompasses $40,239 owed per citizen. While this figure has been quoted frequently when this verboten topic has been discussed the real figure of overriding importance that has tended to be overlooked is the amount per taxpayer.
While $40,239 is a far from insignificant figure, it is nowhere near as calamitous as the salient number determined by taxpayer in that the aforementioned figure includes a large population of children as well as numerous other citizens not paying current taxes.
The amount owed per taxpayer stands currently at $113,496. This leads us into another important category as the situation gets worse, not better.
Let us be sober realists and move into the staggering realm of U.S. total debt. That current figure is $54.76 trillion and climbing so fast that I dare only put the decimal and carry over to .76 when moving from trillions to billions. In that staggering context the total debt per citizen is currently $177,380 and $678,882 per family.
U.S. trade numbers are looking anything but good. U.S. debt held by foreign countries is a staggering $3.82 trillion. The U.S. trade deficit is $80.28 billion.
For those Tea Baggers eager to take slams at China, the economic reality is that the current U.S. deficit with that nation is $36.33 billion. In terms of the mounting debt in the foreign oil realm that stands currently at $52.6 billion.
Bearing in mind the foregoing numbers, did all this begin when Obama took office? One would think so since that is when the Tea Bag movement began.
While some in that movement realize that they must say something negative about Bush, where were these same individuals when he exploded the deficit with his irresponsible tax cuts for the rich carried out in his name?
There was no Tea Bag movement during Bush's eight years in office. Most of these same individuals, following media role models such as Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, and Sean Hannity, were preoccupied rehashing Bill Clinton's administration and perpetually asking why and how he could win two presidential elections.
On the subject of the exploding deficits of Bush you will find that the same crowd now fulminating and castigating non-stop and ardently demonstrating at Tea Bag rallies were those defending him and denouncing as unpatriotic those who dared utter a disparaging word at someone they then extolled as the hero of 9/11.
We know from history that this is a staple Republican right stratagem. Realizing that they cannot stand up to free debate because the facts lie elsewhere, they condemn as unpatriotic those who dare to point out who and what they really are.
