Congratulations, citizens of America! The National Debt is now skirting $7.4 trillion dollars.
When I got to thinking about that, I thought, "How much is $7.4 trillion dollars in real-world terms?" That's so far beyond my comprehension that I had to sit down with a pen and paper and a calculator.
Say the population of the world is around 6 billion people. That's enough money to give every single person on the planet $1,233. Every living human being on the entire globe. Does that give you any sense of it all? How about this: it would purchase a $100,000 home for 7.4 million people. End homelessness, anyone? (I'm not too proud to admit that I'm dreadful with math, but I'm pretty sure that's how the numbers shake out. If someone can correct me, please do so.)
The Newsday article says, "At the moment, there is no threat to government operations. 'The Treasury has more than enough funds,' said Lou Crandall, chief economist for Wrightson ICAP, bond research firm based in Jersey City, N.J.. Nor do investors face any risk as long as Congress does indeed raise the debt limit next month.
"It would be the third hike in four years as the federal debt has risen by $1.8 trillion since 2000. In that time, federal finances have also swung from a $127 billion budget surplus to the $413 billion deficit for the 2004 fiscal year, which [Treasury Secretary] Snow also announced Thursday."
I find that sort of terrifying, don't you?