Everyone knows that the problem America faces is a spending problem. We simply are spending more money than we have a hope of bringing in. Since the end of WWII, the United States has remained steady with tax receipts coming in around 18% of GDP. More in the good years, less during recessionary periods. The whole of that time our spending has been a little more. Not now. Now our spending has dramatically increased.
The result is a debt to GDP level that is unprecedented:
The nation’s debt has reached a symbolic milestone. With gross domestic product of roughly $15 trillion and total debt of $15.23 trillion, our total debt is now bigger than our economy, as USA Today noted Monday.
What’s more, the Obama administration’s projections put our debt at more than $23 trillion by 2020, well in excess of the projected $22.5 trillion GDP.
Indeed, this is bad news. But how bad? Let’s look at other nations in the debt club that we find ourselves in:
| Zimbabwe | 233.2 |
| Japan | 199.7 |
| Saint Kitts and Nevis | 185 |
| Greece | 142.7 |
| Lebanon | 133.8 |
| Iceland | 126.3 |
| Jamaica | 126.2 |
| Italy | 119.1 |
| Singapore | 105.8 |
| Barbados | 102.1 |
| Belgium | 100.7 |
Not very good company at all. And it’s only going to get worse.
Some commentators are claiming that we are going to end up like Greece. Our debt and our #Occupiers seem to indicate that we very well could.