What's the difference between the U.S. National Debt and the U.S. TOTAL Debt? The National debt is $14T and the TOTAL debt is $54T.
National debt is how much the government owes the the financial institutions that lent them money. While total debt includes personal, business, and governmental debt.
Wrong. Numbers are numbers. And these numbers are so obscenely large, it really makes NO impact on the average person. If these numbers are all tripled in another 3 years, what then? Are we going to start another thread and title that one "don't look or you'll puke"? We done enough "seeing". More people need to do something about it.
Meh, artificial numbers don't scare me all that much. There's always a slightlyyyyy less artificial number involved in politics, and that's the number of nukes you've got. You may be super pissed off at the USA because they owe you 1598292398472398472389 trillion dollars but that is still always kinda gonna take a backseat to the fact that they also have 4718947198749 nukes and the means to put them in your backyard tonight. And, the one country that would be super-pissed off at this point, China, can't really be. They are still technically a closed economy. The money that they make from us cannot be reinvested in their country, without massive restructuring of their entire government (ie civil war.) That's why they continue putting it into foreign investment....they have NO other option.
Lol they also know we cant afford to actually pay them back, so even if they did go through the bullshit to reinvest it we would be like oh yea, we will get back to you on that one.... sorry we spent it all making these bombs to kill anyone incase they wanted their money back
Debt isn't the real problem, it's how they will pay the debt off and that will be through: http://m.youtube.com/index?desktop_uri=/&gl=US#/watch?v=-_N0Cwg5iN4 They will devalue the dollar to pay off the debt with meaningless federal reserve notes. We will buying loafs of bread for 14 trillion dollars.
Wrong. Your smug approach makes you sound like an arrogant know it all. No impact on the average person? Well I am an average person and when I get my paycheck and I'm paying over 300 dollars to the government in taxes, yea I'd say it does fucking affect me. And anyone else who has a job. So we need to do something about it. Yea you are right. If you think that knowing how obscene our countries spending is doesn't matter, or that it means nothing, then you are sadly misinformed and under a false sense of security. The belief that "OH it's just a bunch of numbers that don't affect me" is asenine. Whether you all like it or not, those numbers are real, the debt is real, and we cannot sustain this way of life. The dollar is trash, our credit rating was just lowered because of our debt. If you can't wake up and see that this will destroy us, then God have mercy on us all. OH and the sources for the numbers, most of which are the US TREASURY, can be seen by mousing over the number and the US DEBT CLOCK logo will change to THE SOURCE.
They are real in a sense, they definitely do affect the average person on some level, and they need to be kept in mind. The only point that I'm trying to make is that those of you suggesting that the U.S. government is just going to collapse tomorrow because it's "out of money" don't understand how complex the interplay between politics and economics really is. Figures like those in the OP's link are important, but they are not the end-all-be-all. You need to take a wider view of things to be able to say anything at all about the future.
Those numbers aren't real. They don't mean anything, don't serve a purpose. Countries will always be in debt
I am the OP. I never said it is the end all of the world. But it sure is a start. I also am not basing my opinions on that chart alone. I pay attention to history and the trends that the world is heading towards. This is unsustainable. This will bring us down if it continues, it's not possible to live beyond your means forever. The USdebtclock is just a way to see how exorbitant our countries spending and debt is. That money comes from three places. Taxes. Credit. The treasury. Which is currently printing money from thin air with no gold to back up it's value. The dollar has lost .25 in value since the 80's. I don't like that. If you choose to ignore the harbinger, and the facts, that is living with the wool over your eyes. The thought "It doesn't affect me, it isn't real, it's just spin, it's just shock." I'd love to your face when a dozen eggs cost's 10 dollars and a gallon of gas is 20. I bet it will be real then.
^ I laugh at people who honestly believe it doesn't affect them. I love reading these posts about the economy. Some people really have no idea. I am relatively young and still find it hard to believe that people do not see what a giant mess we are creating, and that things (debt) do not just disappear. Continue thinking that debt means nothing and that it is just numbers. But when U.S goes into a state of emergency and people are revolting like none other, you are going to remember how you were joking about the debt on grasscity.com and i bet you will regret not trying to do something.