U.S. National Debt approaching $11,000,000,000,000

Currently, the debt for the U.S. is just over $10,500,000,000,000. Debt Clock

Let me ask you...what is to be done about this?

If anything, I feel this should be at near the top of the political agenda for Mr. Obama. In my opinion, this makes my country look pathetic. It's like growing up either learning how to manage money, or being completely broke with no savings for the rest of your life.

Who would want to do serious business dealings (although they do) with the Unites States with such a horrible background with dealing with monetary issues?

With celebrities getting paid to talk, athletes getting paid to walk, and T.V. getting paid to gawk, why is all of this money being thrown into this? Couldn't this money go to a greater cause? Now don't get me wrong, I love sports, tv, and movies.

It seems that since we have U.S. Treasuries with access to printing presses, and all the damn trees we could ever need, there is endless cash to be made, and spend, the debt is just a number.

Our nation is in a crisis, and I haven't seen nearly anything done about it at all. Thanks for the $600 stimulus check I got last year, it immediately went to my mortgage and some bills, because everything costs so much.

There are hardly any long-term solutions for pulling the U.S. out of debt. It will only work if the nation, as a whole, comes together and starts paying HEAVY taxes. And who wants to do that? Everything would have to be taxed, and sent to one account to pay off the debt. Tens of thousands of salaries would have to be cut severely. Food, T.V., Internet, Gasoline, basically lifes neccessities that have a guaranteed profit behind them. The rough outline I made in a few hours a year or 2 ago, clearly shows this nation would take a minimum of 25-30 years of deep taxes to pull out of debt.

If interest rates stayed low, fuel prices low, and more people could get credit, this economy would FLOURISH. It's all about credit, and we have none. And now they are talking a second "stimulus" worth $500 per working adult. Tally up that debt clock.

When is it actually going to happen? Is it just going to turn into some number that has no significance? I mean...wow.

actually.. the real debt count is over 50.. not 11..

funny that people worry about this now that it's too late to do anything.

indeed, and we've already given 2.2 trillion in bailouts and promised another 6...thats just so far.

That debt clock needs an energizer bunny to keep up.

It is way pass 11 trillion IMO.

I believe Social Security/Medicaid put the debt at over 60Trillion, what the real numbers are, only God himself could probably tell us.

The national debt is 11 trill "on the books".

Off the books, its well over 50 trillion dollars

only one thing to do about the clock, and that is to pull out the plug to try and save some money on the electric bills.

I really think the US dollar has gone too far down the drain to recover.

As the above posters stated, it's really well over 50 trillion. I've seen some estimates as high as 59 trillion.

There are hardly any long-term solutions for pulling the U.S. out of debt. It will only work if the nation, as a whole, comes together and starts paying HEAVY taxes.

We may be to far gone. But why is it always taxes that have to be raised? Why can't government be decreased?

And most of these taxes won't be paid by many of us, your kids and their kids will pick up the tab. This is the burden we are placing on the next few generations because the whole country was spending out of control.

Obama has shown no indication of changing the debt increase. He's adding to it with the "economic stimulus" and next week's coming "bank bailout part 2" announcement.

There are no real spending cuts, at least not enough to make a difference. This country is addicted to spending.

The only way we can start to get things on the right track is by pulling back our "empire" of troops all over the world which would save huge amounts of money, drastically cut government spending, reduce taxes as much as possible, and to get PRODUCTIVITY going again.

It's not about jobs...it's about PRODUCTIVITY. We don't produce anything here. We are a nation of consumers and burger flippers. If we don't stop the money we spend from going out of the country then we will NEVER stop this.

IMO.

Isnt the GDP of the US about 11 trillion as well?

So whats the big deal? We owe the same amount as what we bring in.

If most Americans only owed (in mortgages, cars, etc) the exact equivalent of what they brought in every year they would be in good shape.

I dont see the problem. Debt = 11 tril. GDP = 11 tril.

Originally posted by RickinVa
The national debt is 11 trill "on the books".

Off the books, its well over 50 trillion dollars

The govt only counts short term debt. Debt that must be paid 20 years or so down the road doesn't count!!!. If a business tried that stunt they'd be prosecuted for fraud. Debt must include all debt - short and long term.