A milestone can be defined as “a significant event in the life or process of a person or nation.” Unfortunately, not all milestones are good ones. We recently passed quite a doozy of a milestone, and not the good kind. But we need to understand what’s happening anyway, so here we go.
👹Here are Five Fast Facts on our monstrous new national debt:
- 3️⃣3️⃣ The Number - The new number is $33 trillion. Yes, with a “T”, trillion. And you thought your credit card balance had gotten too high…
- 🤯 Recent Explosions - The last three presidents and Congresses have overseen ridiculous (and, dare we say it, irresponsible) increases in the national debt. Combined, the national debt has gone up almost $12 trillion in just the last 15 years! It boggles the mind, really.
- 📈 The History - The national debt was only (hahaha…”only”) $907 billion in 1980. Since then, it’s gone up an average of 123% every decade, and is projected to reach $50 trillion by 2030. Think exponential growth (in the wrong direction).
- 🤜🤛 The Bickering - In the current negotiations, there are fundamental disagreements. For example, Republicans have been proposing spending cuts while Democrats want to send more money to Ukraine…and so on.
- ⏳ The Timeline - The deadline for dealing with this is the end of September. If Congress and the White House can’t get themselves together ASAP, there will be some form of government shutdown. That’s happened before, and while it is serious, it’s not the end of the world. BUT…if that happens again this time, then Moody’s is warning that they’ll downgrade the US credit rating. They would be the second agency to do so, a clear sign of a massive financial failure of Washington’s elected leaders on behalf of the country. This could potentially tip some other ugly dominos that we don’t want tipped.
🔥Bottom line: So what happens from here? Separate bills passed in the House and Senate would have to be reconciled to match them up and be something that everyone would pass, and that the President would sign. It’s a long shot right now, but this is the game of financial chicken that our elected reps seem to enjoy playing. In the meantime, it sure looks a whole lot like fiscal irresponsibility to everyone outside of Washington DC. And Moody’s is confirming that with their warning. So let’s hope this ugly milestone doesn’t spell ruin, and that our elected leaders demonstrate some maturity and responsibility. And soon…
What should we do about this debt?
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