Sunday, June 28, 2009

Debt's All Folks!

We all know U.S. debt is kind of out of control, and that is without factoring in the universal health care package that is sure to be just a tad expensive.

But I had no idea it was this bad. Witness the U.S. Debt Clock, one of the most horrifying sites on the interwebs.

As of this posting, the U.S. National Debt is $11,435,511,645,986. And it's gaining a million dollars every few seconds or so. By the time you read this, it will probably have gained a good billion.

And then you look at the indicators for private debt, credit card debt, and all the other liabilities in the budget, and the numbers spin uncontrollably, faster than you can read them. It's moving faster than any high score in any video game I've ever seen. The Pinball Wizard himself would fall short. Thank God he can't see this.

I mean, Good Lord. How on earth can anyone fool themselves into thinking we're eventually going to pay all of this back? This amount of money does not exist. It seems a made up number, an imaginary thing, created solely in the interest of maintaining an illusion of wealth that resides in the same ethereal neighborhood as those derivatives and securities that crippled the economy, Santa Claus, and the Tooth Fairy.

Eventually, we're going to realize that there is no way we will be able to pay the bill. And then we're going to have to wash the dishes to settle the tab for, oh, about the next thousand years. And it won't be fun when we get there but why worry? I mean, hey, this steak is damn tasty right now.

Maybe I'll have another.

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