Citizens, It’s Up To You

Image courtesy of Pixabay.

Main Street Economics has published a new pamphlet full of sobering facts about the U.S. debt.  Below is an excerpt; you can  Read the pamphlet here

Opinion

By Leslie A. Rubin

The United States is bankrupt!  Kaput.  We are not OK.

I know what you are thinking.  I have heard this all before, so what is different today?

Appropriate question:  Everything!

First, I am going to explain what is different today, and then go over the facts you need to know and why this matters to you.  And most importantly, what can we do about it.

So please invest a few minutes to understand this because without your support the folks in Washington will not fix the problem.  It is up to us, we the people, to understand this and send a message to our elected representatives – fix this mess while there is still time.  

A key measure of financial risk is the ratio of debt to our economy, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – over 60% is a warning zone, over 90% is the danger zone, according to a study by Reinhart and Rogolf of over 65 countries, over 8 centuries spanning 5 continents.  (FYI, the Maastricht Treaty which created the European union in 1992 specified 60% as the maximum ratio, although none are following this criteria.)

During World War II our debt to GDP exceeded 100%,  the danger zone just like now.  But after that we had two decades of fiscal responsibility and a rapidly growing economy, and that ratio dropped to under 40%, a very comfortable ratio. 

Today our debt to GDP ratio is 125%, well above the danger zone.  But now the projections are for it to get worse, and worse, and worse, unlike the period after World War II – and these are estimates from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO).  It is projected to rise to over 200% over the next few decades.  Our Ship of State, The USS Titanic, is headed directly at the iceberg.

No advanced civilization has ever survived debts like these.  

If you are a concerned citizen and care about the very survival of this country, you need to understand this and then do something about it.  

The issue is not hard to understand, but it is very hard to fix.

Leslie A. Rubin, who is based in Clearwater, Florida, is a professional accountant, entrepreneur, and real estate developer. He has a clear understanding of what makes economic systems work, the power of incentives and is the founder of MainStreetEconomics.org



Masthead | Advertising | Contact Us
Greg C. Truax - Publisher
David R. Wheeler - Contributing Editor

©2024 GCTMediaGroupInc.
3225 S. MacDill Ave.
Suite 129-361
Tampa, FL 33629

Subscribe to AliveTampaBay