There is a great graphic here and some comment there.
How the American government really Spends the Tax Dollars it Currently Receives
Posted in * Culture-Watch, * Economics, Politics, Aging / the Elderly, Budget, Consumer/consumer spending, Economy, Ethics / Moral Theology, Health & Medicine, Medicare, Middle Age, Personal Finance, Politics in General, Social Security, Taxes, Teens / Youth, The National Deficit, The U.S. Government, Theology, Young Adults
Sigh, the ‘net interest’ amount is extremely misleading. The ‘actual’ amount of interest on the national debt is twice that amount, but our government does not count interest payments it makes to itself, only those it pays to external liabilities. The interest we show we paid in 2012 was $359 Billion (with a B), but they took a ‘one time adjustment’ reducing that amount, of $75 Billion (again with a B) so actually we paid $359 + $75 = $434 Billion (it was $454B in 2011), not the $220 Billion they tout, in a time when interest rates are at an all time low. Consider, if you will, what will happen when our economy ‘actually’ starts to recover (not this ‘statistical’ recovery that only an economist can decipher) and the government has to pay rates equal to the historical averages, of 4-5%, on $20 TRILLION. At that point interest on the national debt will consume all the ‘new’ revenue generated by our recovering economy. And what if interest rates surge to twice that, 8-9% (don’t forget that interest rates in the US have been as high as double digits in the past), a terrifying prospect as the rest of the world pulls out of the slump and we remain mired in debt and a constantly rising governmental spending habit that prevents us from joining the rest of the nations in returning to prosperity. China must be laughing out loud as we continue to slide into fiscal insolvency. Sad…..