A Short Summary of America and its Debt

"Now remember, we've already done more than a billion dollars' worth of cuts, so we need to get some credit for that."---Harry Reid speaking about expenditures. This is a quote from the leader of the Senate during debates over spending and taxing, euphemistically known as raising revenue.

The U.S. deficit--what we spend versus what we take in as taxes--is 1.2 trillion--TRILLION--dollars. Annually.

Our debt--the sum of our accumulated deficits which we pay interest on (as we did borrow it to spend it)--is 16 trillion--TRILLION--dollars. This does not include the future costs of current commitments.

Despite the vote this year, the vast majority of voters polled felt there was too much government in American lives. Yet, according to the most recent (2009) OECD statistics, government expenditures per person in France are $18,866.00 and in the U.S., $19,266.00.

But a comparison of taxation does not match the European expenditures. Government spending in Australia is 33.1% of GDP, and tax revenues are 27.1%. Likewise, government spending in Norway is 46.4% and revenues are 41%. But government spending in the U.S. is 42.2%, but revenues are 24%.

So...
1. We want more from government in our lives than we admit.
2. We are not willing to pay for those subsidies.
3. We elect laughable leadership and we do not care.