Whether the U.S. goes the way of Greece, Italy, Ireland, France, Portugal, and Spain may be in doubt, but this much is certain: Per capita government debt in the U.S. is a serious problem. In an article for The Blaze yesterday, Becket Adams included the chart below. It’s shocking – especially to those of us who have been following developments in Europe:
The only thing standing between the U.S. and debt bailout negotiations at this point is the good faith and credit of the U.S. government. With each passing day, that is worth less and less. Before too much longer, our so-called “good faith and credit” with be worth zero, and we’ll be called to account. That’s one reason why the 2012 presidential election is so important.
Neil Snyder is a chaired professor emeritus at the University of Virginia. His blog, SnyderTalk.com, is posted daily.
The only reason our situation isn’t as bad as theirs is because of our sheer wealth. I believe our GDP per capita is far higher, although I haven’t looked it up and done the math.
What should scare people is that average incomes are on the way down, while cost of living is going up. The debt per capita is almost as high as the average wage.
The other thing delaying our day of reckoning is that our demographics aren’t as bad. They’re bad, to be sure, but our fertility rate is much higher than 1.
Why are you breaking out the debt per country? The US should be broken out into states or it combine the countries as the Euro.
Because the US is, believe it or not, one nation.
The EU is still a number of separate nations. Not even all EU members use the Euro currency.
For example, the United Kingdom is a EU member, but still uses the Pound Sterling as their currency. Imagine if, say, Massachusetts tried issuing their own currency now (I know states issued their own money in the past, but I am speaking about the present day).
The EU is not one nation in the way the US is. That’s just the way it is. Sorry if that screws with your predetermined worldview.
The EU is not one nation in the way the US is.
But it’s run from Brussels by an unelected, accountable coterie of 27 puffballs, who issue decrees micromanaging the internal affairs of the ‘sovereign’ nations who have foolishly yielded to its Anaconda-like ‘ever closer union’ with no second-thought voting allowed.
Precisely the intent of the Obama admin with its unaccountable ‘Czars’ and its ever-expanding Federal micromanaging of rules and regulations, and its massive squandering of deficit spending.
Don’t count on the Constitution to keep us clear of that statist Anaconda.
45K is bad is you finance it at high interest and short term,
or if you don’t expect to be able to meet the payments.
It’s not so bad otherwise.
Kinda depends, too, what you’re buying with the money.
It’d be dumb to buy a new SUV on your credit card.
It’d be even dumber to buy one for some guy on the other side of town.
Might make sense to spend 45K on a house,
especially if your family will live there.
You’d probably be a bit upset if you were
forced to buy that house for a family of toothless scofflaws you’ve never met.
Defining this problem in terms of per-capita-debt completely misses the real issue. Sure, the massive US federal debt is a problem. But since half of US citizens now pay no income taxes, that also means they have no liability for paying off this debt. So why should they care about it?
The reality is that a small percentage of Americans will have to pay off this debt. The 16 trillion dollar US debt liability should be defined by a pro-rated formula that assigns debt share based on income tax levels. In those terms, most Americans would have no debt liability, and a small number of those with high taxable incomes would literally have millions in federal debt liability.