We’re burning to debt and no one cares or we’re too naïve to face reality. It always sounds great when talk show hosts say how great America is; and why would anyone challenge it. Hell, we take the news, whether from radio, TV or social media as gospel. Are we just too lazy or just too stupid to know what’s going on.
As long as Americans think we’re great we will keep getting burned by debt. Greatest, well, if you consider the competition throughout the world, sure. Better stated, we’re the Least of the Lousy! Because you cannot look at the debt per person comparison, by decade (below) and come away being proud.
| US National Debt by Decade | ||||
| Year (a) | in billions $$ (a) | US Pop-in1,000,000 (b) | Debt per person | Debt per person in 1930 $$$ (c ) |
| 2023 | $ 33,167 | 340 | $ 97,550 | $ 5,217 Debt now 40 times than in 1930 |
| 2020 | $ 26,945 | 331 | $ 81,405 | |
| 2010 | $ 13,562 | 309 | $ 43,890 | |
| 2000 | $ 5,674 | 291 | $ 19,498 | |
| 1990 | $ 3,233 | 258 | $ 12,531 | |
| 1980 | $ 908 | 236 | $ 3,847 | |
| 1970 | $ 371 | 213 | $ 1,742 | |
| 1960 | $ 286 | 189 | $ 1,513 | |
| 1950 | $ 257 | 161 | $ 1,596 | |
| 1940 | $ 43 | 142 | $ 303 | |
| 1930 | $ 16 | 123 | $ 130 | |
| a | https://www.investopedia.com/us-national-debt-by-year-7499291 | |||
| b | https://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h980.html | |||
| c | https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1930? | |||
| Deflator is | ||||
| 18.7 | ||||
Astoundingly, you can see, the debt per US citizen in 2023 is over $97k, as compared to 1930, when it was a mere $130. OK, (adjusted for 1930 dollars) debt is now $5,217 person compared to 130, which over 40 times the 1930 level. So, for every American, they now carry 40 times more debt than their ancestors of about a century ago. This is PURE GREED, NAIVETY OR STUPIDITY-choose your adjective.
Thomas Jefferson succinctly summarized our problem, when he stated, “No generation has a right to contract debts greater than can be paid off during the course of its own existence.” ~ Thomas Jefferson
Yet, we crap all over America and expect future generations to clean up the mess and stench of debt we left behind.
We are manipulated by Wall Street, which needs free flowing money to keep the markets looking valuable, or by its major players of Buffet, Dimon, Moynihan, or their companies and many others like TSLA, Meta, Amzn, AAPL etc, whose market capital would tumble if the US government ever had the gonads to operate on a balanced budget.
We must accept that the next 50 years will need to be that of economic suicide, to correct the mistakes of our government, and generations of citizens of the last hundred years, that betrayed us, if we ever intend on follow the brilliance of Jefferson’s warnings.