Excuse me, but do you have change for a $35,000.00 bill...?

That's one big number, huh, kids? That's ten TRILLION dollars, which is the sum total, as of January 27, 2009 at 1:59:33 AM GMT of the U.S. national debt.

Assuming a U.S. population of 305,534,200, that equates to $34,794.70 for every man, woman, and child in America.

Do you have change for a $35,000.00 bill?

How about if I just give you $35,000.00, and we call it even, and you can count me out from here on out? Sounds fair to me.

And this astonishing total does not include the $840 Billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP)- passed against the wishes of the majority of U.S. citizens, but that's a topic for another time- nor does it include President Obama's Economic Stimulus package, which he is trying to push through Congress before they recess for President's Day on February 13th. Since the plan is not yet finalized, the total cost cannot yet be known, but estimates so far put the sum total at an additional $825 Billion, $550 Billion of which is additional spending. Together, those two amounts would easily push the total well over $11 TRILLION dollars.

The National Debt Clock in Times Square, which has been keeping the running total since 1989, maxed out in September 2008. The dollar sign ($) was removed to make room for a '1' when the debt increased from $9 Trillion to $10 Trillion. Did anyone take this as a sign that maybe we should reevaluate where decades of mismanagement has gotten us? No, we just need a new clock. Don't worry, its already in the works, and the new clock is expected to be finished in September 2009. The new clock will have room to count up to ONE QUADRILLION DOLLARS of debt. That's a one followed by FIFTEEN zeros, kids.

This has got to stop. Is it any wonder the American savings rate is the lowest since the depression, and that our debt ratios are at record high levels? Given the stellar example set by our government, its no wonder.

And the best part- since we don't have this money just lying around somewhere, and, thanks to leaders like Franklin Delano Roosevelt, we're no longer on the Gold Standard, so when the Government needs more money, they just fire up the printing presses. You can't do that, no. That's counterfeiting. But if you're the Federal Government, nobody thinks twice about it. Not until the inflation tax kicks in.

In 1950, the average cost of a new car was $1,510.00, and a new house would set you back a whopping $8,450.00.

In 1975, those average costs had risen to $4,250.00 and $42,600.00 respectively.

In 2005 (the most current year that I could find statistics for auto prices), those had skyrocketed to $27,958.00 and $297,000.00. That's inflation, folks. My last car cost me more than my parents' first home.

The more money the Federal Government prints, the less a dollar will buy. The larger the disparity between the Federal Government's income and their debts and obligations, the more the deficit grows. Now you or I would probably be looked at derisively and told to live within our means. Sure, we may take out loans but at some point, we would exhaust all of our avenues and would no longer be able to secure credit. But our representative government (and I use the term loosely) has no such limitations, and they see nothing wrong with firing up the printing presses and just churning out more money.

We need to put a stop to this now, before we put each and every one of our children and grandchildren in the position of being $3,272,956.00 in debt at birth, saddled with 60-year mortgages and 12-year auto loans just to pay for the average house and car.

See the debt clock at: http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/