The National Debt vs. Your Mortgage

We know our National Debt is INCREASING, but is the rate of increase accelerating? YES - and here's an interesting explanation to that answer...

How are we going to pay off the current debt?

What about the increase in the debt that is forecasted by both the White House and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO)...

$1,500 vs. Your Mortgage payment

Often, when others speak of the National Debt (now over $11 Trillion and growing every day), they like to point out that it boils down to about $37,000 per person based on our current population of about 300 million people.

But wait..

not all 300 million people pay income taxes, so how can they repay this debt? It is time we look at the debt per tax return (i.e. per family or individual taxpayer) as this is how the debt will be repaid, with taxpayers, not with the population as a whole.

Most tax paying families can relate to paying a mortgage, so let's equate our own share of the current national debt to a 30 year mortgage at 5% - allocated the same way our taxes are.

Those making between $50,000 and $200,000 represent 27% of the families who shoulder 47% of our nation's tax burden. The repayment of debt will fall hardest on this group. The top 2% of families shoulder the next 43%, leaving 71% of families paying less than 10% of our nation's tax bill and thus virtually none of our debt.

Some simple questions to put this in perspective for you...

• How does this monthly payment compare to your mortgage payment?
• How does that annual payment compare to your annual income tax bill?
• How does the total payment compare to your home value?

But wait...

The national debt is going to almost DOUBLE in the next 10 years, which will in affect DOUBLE your debt payment.

If your share of the debt payment was $750, it will double to almost $1,500

So, if you make between $75,000 and $100,000 per year, can you spare and extra $1,500 per month - for the next 30 years?

We need a REDUCTION in Spending - and we need it now!

*Note: Tax information was based on the year for which complete results were available, which was 2006.

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For those still reading...

Some will argue that as GDP increases and the population increases, the individual's burden to pay for the debt will then decrease. That would be true IF, and I repeat IF, the national debt would at least hold steady or decline, but it is only forecast to increase over the next ten years based on current estimates.

While looking forward is only an estimate - provided both by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) as well as the Obama White House - the trend is disturbing. During the early years of the Bush administration, the deficit increased (in part due to wars), but began to decline in 04 until to 08. However, after some initial declines from the current massive deficits, the deficit continues to increase in future years, with no end in site.

You may have all heard some commentators say the government is bankrupting our children's future, well this data and information just might help convince you there might really be something to all that talk.

How can we continue to afford to spend like this? WE CAN'T!!!

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