US debt currently stands at $36,815,868,895,386. You'd be forgiven for not immediately making sense of that number, but it is approaching 37 trillion dollars. That is about 10 trillion more than when I first wrote a post mentioning it, sometime back in 2017 or 2018. Humans aren't made to calculate that kind of number, let alone visualise it, but there are a few resources out there that do a good job to put it into perspective. One I just found for this is here which visualises what a trillion looks like, with hundreds stacked on pallets. And I think if you spend a moment to really soak it in, it is pretty incredible. And then times it by 37. How many truckloads is that?
Of course, little of it exists to transport by truck.
At least not as Benjamins.
But the US debt is well over twice the debt of the next largest, China, which is sitting on 16 trillion in debt. Japan holds over a trillion in US debt, and China holds just under a trillion. However, it is this debt model that has financed the US to become the largest economy in the world by far, because it is the largest consumer in the world by far, with 5% of the world's population consuming around 25% of the world's resources. The problem of course is, debt models aren't sustainable, as eventually, the markers will be called, one way or another.
Since 2001, the US debt has climbed by 3.5x times, over tripling in less than twenty five years - which in itself, is incredible. How steep can that curve get? Two trillion more were added between 2003 and 2004, and another two trillion at least will pack on top this year.
Where does it all go?
Since 2018, the Department of Defense in the US has had to complete an annual audit, meaning they have had seven yearly audits so far. And of, they have failed seven times. Only nine of the twenty eight sub-audits passed. The Pentagon can't account for how it has spent its 900 billion dollar yearly budget, and apparently the Pentagon doesn't know where 63% of its 4 trillion in booked assets are.
Go home intelligence, you're drunk.
But for a little bit of comparison, there are 85 million mortgages in the US currently, and all together they add up to about 12 trillion dollars - and doesn't count as national debt. Similarly, all the credit card debt int he US amounts to 1.2 trillion, and that isn't national debt either. And auto debt on car loans sits at 1.6 trillion, and that isn't national debt. So, if you consider that a person's largest debts are usually their house, car, and credit cards. In total, they amount to about one-third of the national debt, but don't count as national debt.
The US uses a lot of money to keep its people happy.
Feeling happy American?
But think about that for a moment.... so the national debt is three times larger than all of the major debts that the people owe, which means that all of the increase in debt by the US in the last nine years, would be enough to pay off everyone's debts. Every American would be living debt free, with no mortgage, no credit card payments, and own their car.
Is the government using the money wisely??
You might have heard a story coming out of the US where a woman who "served as assistant secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President George H. W. Bush from 1989 to 1990" was saying that the government has built at least 170 subterranean cities in and around the US alone, and likely has more in other countries. These cities are for the elites to hide in the case of some cataclysmic event on the surface.
Okay....
While this sounds like a crazy conspiracy theory and well might be, it would fill in the blackholes of governmental accounting practices as these cities would have to be "off the books" and they would take a huge amount of resources to build. And yeah, it really, really does sound crazy - but is it?
A literal money pit.
While people are increasingly falling into debt and are less able to cope in life due to growing economic pressures, the reason for a lot of their suffering is the government itself, and the decisions they make. And just like in any dictatorship, a lot of the resources taken from the people, or from the future of the people, go into building opulent residence to protect themselves from when the creations of all their decisions, come crashing down in a heap.
When that happens, the safest place to hide - is underground.
Or on Mars.
There are lots of little facts in this article to pick at, and potentially some fiction. The trouble is, it is really hard to tell these days whish is which. If there were open accounting practices for governments, perhaps instead of hidden underground cities, people would be living debt-free and with plenty.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
