Debt Bomb Poised To Destroy America

As the amount of debt barrels toward the government's legal ceiling, President Obama and the Democrats have launched a media-aided campaign of fear-mongering to spook Republicans into capitulating on raising the limit.

With the president leading the chorus, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and other acolytes have stumped through the complicit media, warning of a financial collapse if the debt limit does not budge from the current $14.294 trillion level.

When President Obama was inaugurated, the nation's debt stood at $10.626 trillion. In January of this year, debt steamrolled past the $14 trillion mark for the first time in the nation's history. At the current level, the tab for the debt would be $128,687 for every taxpayer.

What few Americans know is that the "real" government indebtedness is much higher than $14 trillion. If you included the unfunded liabilities such as Medicare and Social Security, the true national debt is a whopping $119.5 trillion, according to the Cato Institute.

President Obama's failed economic rescue plan, which served up pork barrel projects for Democrats, fueled $3.9 trillion in debt in just two years. Without drastic measures, economists predict Obama's spending could add $5.9 trillion to the nation's debt in just his first term. In eight years, President Bush and the mostly Democratic Congress totaled $4.5 trillion in new debt.

Strings of zeroes after dollar signs soon just become mind-numbing statistics. But it is time more Americans began paying attention to to the numbers. For example, if you look closely you will find that the United States is fast becoming another Greece, the beleaguered poster-child for runaway deficits and bloated debt.

When Greece hit the skids in late 2009, its deficit was 12.7 percent of the nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). That country's total debt was 110 percent of GDP. Greece stumbled into a financial wall that necessitated a bailout by the European Union.

If you think it could never happen to the U.S., consider this: Last year the nation's deficit was 8.9 percent of the GDP. It is approaching ten percent this fiscal year and will surely reach that level in 2012, unless dramatic cuts are made.

For perspective, the federal deficit has breached 10 percent only four times in the country's history: the Civil War, World War I, World War II and 2008. Even in the Great Depression, the deficit's high water mark was 5 percent of GDP.

The U.S. debt was 97.3 percent of the nation's GDP as of the end of last month. The only constraint on the march to 100 percent is the current debt ceiling. Without Congressional action to move the limit higher, the federal government cannot legally borrow any more money.

That brings us back to the current Congressional crisis, which has been marked by scare tactics unrivaled in recent political memory. All the media and Democrat Party pundits are telling us that failing to increase the debt level will lead to another epic financial meltdown. If it sounds familiar, it's the same recycled argument that was used in the recent budget debate.

Congress should stop and ask a simple question: Do we want to lift the debt ceiling and watch as the United States of America becomes the next Greece? The numbers suggest we are not that far away.

The U.S. debt is already at its highest level in the country's history. Increasing the ceiling will only encourage more spending, more borrowing and more debt. Republicans keep promising to stem the debt tide, but each deal with Democrats produces no meaningful reduction in spending.

Many Americans may be immune to the debt issue, but others are clearly worried. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned the U.S. earlier this year to get its financial house in order. This month the ratings agency, Standard & Poor's, put the government on notice that it risks losing its AAA credit rating.

It is time for taxpayers to take a stand on this issue. Tell your Congressman or woman to vote "no" on raising the debt limit. If the debt continues unabated, the United States faces a fiscal time bomb that will destroy the economy and wipe out any hope of a return to prosperity.