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Monday, February 25th, 2019

National debt tops $22 trillion for the first time as experts warn of ripple effects

Author:     Michael Collins
Source:     USA TODAY
Publication Date:     8:32 p.m. ET Feb. 12, 2019
 Link: National debt tops $22 trillion for the first time as experts warn of ripple effects
Stephan:   It is a measure of what has happened to the Republican Party, that the political entity that once made the national debt a major political issue, demanding that it be reduced, is now as quiet as a coop of sleeping chicks, even as the debt reaches levels never before seen in history. And the Democrats, except for Sanders and Warren, aren't much better. At first glance could you even give $22,000,000,000,000 a name? Try $22 trillion. It is a number so big it is really inconceivable, and I think that debt, combined with Trump's trade madness,  is one of several signs that we are headed for a  major economic meltdown.

Donald Trump
Credit: Brendan Smialowski, AFP/Getty

WASHINGTON – The national debt surpassed $22 trillion for the first time on Tuesday, a milestone that experts warned is further proof the country is on an unsustainable financial path that could jeopardize the economic security of every American.

The Treasury Department reported the debt hit $22.012 trillion, a jump of more than $30 billion in just this month.

The national debt has been rising at a faster rate following the passage of President Donald Trump’s $1.5 trillion tax-cut package a little more than a year ago and as the result of congressional efforts to increase spending on domestic and military programs. The nation has added more than $1 trillion in debt in the last 11 months alone.

“Reaching this unfortunate milestone so rapidly is the latest sign that our fiscal situation is not only unsustainable but accelerating,” said Michael A. Peterson, chief executive officer of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, a nonpartisan organization working to address the country’s long-term fiscal challenges.

For Americans, the growing debt […]

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2 Comments

  1. Will on Monday, February 25, 2019 at 7:47 am

    The unacknowledged reality is this debt, including government debt worldwide at $60 trillion, will never be paid back. It is a simple reality that, unlike personal debt, in the modern economic system there is no way this ever growing balance can every be substantially reduced. There was small progress made under the Clinton administration with budget surpluses from 1998-2001 after a substantial tax increase and a booming economy but that is long past.

    It is at a most fundamental level “made up” out of thin air, if that. And that money is real so long as most people believe it is real. It will buy food, guns and butter until for what ever reasons people start to disbelieve as in Venezuela.

    Without doubt we need a new economic system that while using money is not driven by money, that operates with people before profit as the bottom line. There are trends afoot that will of necessity be hastened by the coming debt bubble deflation.

    • Will on Monday, February 25, 2019 at 7:51 am

      Meanwhile Fox News headline “NASA concerned as iceberg twice the size of New York City is about to break off from Antarctica”