When we say $22 TRILLION dollars, it might not make people blink too much. It’s just a number, right? Does the national deficit actually impact anyone’s lives? We will still go about living as we always have, working and spending. The national debt might seem like more of a problem for politicians. They only seem to care about seeing who can outspend each other, regardless of party.
But the reality of the national debt goes deeper and people should care more about what it signifies. It means that our politicians, the people we hire to take care of us, have failed us. They’ve outspent our budget to the tune of $22 trillion. We rely on these people to take care of our needs and ensure the future is bright for our children.
During President Trump’s State of the Union address last week, there was not a single mention of the national debt. Neither did the Democrats during their rebuttal. They seem more interested in playing political games and one-upping each other. In fact, one politician was asked about the national debt after the speech. His reply was: “No one here cares!”
But, as Americans, we should all care about the national debt. That is OUR money they’re playing around with. They’re wasting millions…billions even, on frivolous things. The impact of this problem is going to be felt maybe not today but in the near future. It’s going to tank our economy if we don’t figure out a solution.
The Impact of the National Debt
There is a major impact to the massive national debt. And the reason why most politicians don’t care is most of them will be retired soon. They’ll be gone before the worst of the problem hits. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t already a problem happening. For one, where there’s debt, there’s interest that needs to be paid.
$500 billion of our tax dollars is automatically rendered dead money. Before we pay for anything like roads or infrastructure or military, that first chunk goes away. Each year we pay that $500 billion in interest, which is a number that continues to grow. Paying that much in straight up interest is going to take more usable money out of the budget as the deficit grows.
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Still, we’re not done dooming and glooming this situation. In just a few short years, we set to hit the $30 trillion mark. That means the interest we pay towards the national debt will grow to $1 trillion. Down the drain, every single year. That’s the approximate asking price to start repairing the entire country’s infrastructure.
More Trouble Ahead
Currently, the United States adds $3 billion to the national debt every day. Can you imagine overspending that much? Half of that goes directly towards the interest on the debt. And it seems like the interests of the Congress and Senate are to continue spending even more money. This is especially true for the newly elected socialist Democrats.
Pushing for programs like Medicare-for-All and free college tuition, it seems like a good idea. But Medicare-for-all by itself will cost over $40 trillion over the next decade. That’s simply money we don’t have, even if we dramatically increase taxes. Because our politicians love to spend and make promises, the national debt has no chance of ever going down.
