America’s debt is so high now that is is likely that most people cannot grasp just how serious the situation is. I mean, does the average person on the street really understand the difference between 14 trillion and 14 billion dollars? How can they when most of them are struggling just to get or keep a job that pays maybe $50,000. People can visualize how much a million dollars is and maybe even a 100 million but when you get into the billions and trillions, I would guess that a lot of people tune out because those numbers are hard to put into perspective.
Debt relief grants are what too many people are searching for these days because they are behind on their bills. But what most families owe pales in comparison to what trouble our politicians have gotten this country into. The graphic below puts our countries debt into terms most of us can understand by comparing it to a families household budget. As you can see, the money the USA is bringing in isn’t anywhere near what is going out and the amount of debt we have racked up so far is about 6.5 times the yearly income. If the America were a family, that family would be BANKRUPT!
It is obvious that the last 10 to 20 years, we have all been asleep at the wheel. We can blame Republicans or Democrats for this crisis but the responsibility really lies with us, the voters. Individuals don’t seem to adhere to the importance of saving anymore and they have been electing politicians who don’t save either. Everyone seems to like to spend and now we have a situation that might not be reversible.
Because of our high debt we have a poisoned atmosphere in the U.S. like I have never seen before. Poor vs. rich, unemployed vs. employed, Democrats vs. Republicans, Liberals vs. Conservatives, citizens vs. illegal citizens, and all sorts of other groups pitted against one another. It’s crazy and much of the anger is a result of America being in so much trouble economically.
What can you do? START SPENDING LESS AND SAVING EVERYTHING YOU CAN. Lead by example and teach your kids how important it is to NOT spend money until they have it. We have to change the culture in this country and go back to the basics again.