How much is $17 trillion? Visualized for reference.
 

http://demonocracy.info/infographics...t/us_debt.html

This is nuts.

Darren

:thumbsup:

It's rather scary that most people hear these numbers all day long while listing to the news but they have no real concept of just how much a trillion is or even how much a billion dollars is.

Scary is that the government has liabilities of between 13 and 17 Trillion dollars..


Their assets are 1.5 trillion.. 35% of their assets are Student Loans..Mortgages are 9%. Misc., and tax receivable are 25%..

How do you run a business when your assets are that low, and your Debt is that high, and student loans are the largest chunk of your "assets"...:willy:

Wow, we better all get off of Lat-G and get back to work, the government needs our money! :rofl:

If the Federal government was a business that would matter.

Since it isn't a business, they don't care because it is other people's money, and they get paid and pensions, no matter what..

Then we get the government that we have...Bloated, mis-managed, and in crisis mode...

If they showed this on the major TV news networks -- it might FINALLY get America riled up enough to vote properly (which isn't a political statement - it's a statement that says pay more attention to what your LEGISLATORS are voting for - i.e., your Senators and Representatives!)

People all want to blame the President. The President DOES NOT make laws - he only signs them.... it's the other 535 bozos that piss your money away!

:woot:

I was shocked, in china everyone saves 40% of their income, we'd be in a very different position if that was the case in the west

Yes, that's true. We'd be way worse off:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_thrift

An excerpt:

The paradox states that if everyone tries to save more money during times of recession, then aggregate demand will fall and will in turn lower total savings in the population because of the decrease in consumption and economic growth.