12,031,299,186,290.07

That gigantic number is the U.S. debt and it’s almost at its ceiling. 

7,632,033,766,420.46 of it is owed to you, the U.S. citizen.

4,399,265,419,869.61 of it is owed to foreign powers, mostly China.

According to law, its total cannot exceed 12.1 Trillion Dollars, so Congress is faced with a problem.  Either they have to raise the limit to $13 Trillion, or start shutting down the government.

To put this in perspective, in May of 2006 Congress raised the debt cap to $9 Trillion.  That means, in three-and-a-half years, we’ve piled on another $4.1 Trillion in debt - almost half of which has been added in just the ten months Obama’s been President.  In fact, Obama’s increase is a new record, one that triples the previous record, set in 2008 by the previous spendaholic.

So, as unemployment hits 10.2 percent, and the administration’s spending continues to pile up, Obama has issued a warning.  “It is important, though, to recognize if we keep on adding to the debt, even in the midst of this recovery, that at some point, people could lose confidence in the U.S. economy in a way that could actually lead to a double-dip recession.”

Huh.  “At some point?” 

Great.  Obama’s worried about the debt.  I suppose this means he’s not going to sign the Pelosi Health Care Bill with all of it’s tax increases and small business punishment.  I’ll bet he no longer has any desire for the massive burdens that Cap and Trade would drop on the U.S. economy.  I’m sure, in the interest of not “adding to the debt,” he’ll be scaling back government social programs, and all unnecessary federal spending.  Right, Mr. President?

Why are we not filled with confidence?

Maybe it’s because, way back on May 23rd, Obama told CNN ”we’re out of money now.”  At that point the debt was $11 Trillion.  So, after the President told us we were out of money, he still made sure to spend another trillion Dollars.

Now, we’re all careening toward that $12.1 Trillion debt ceiling.   The Treasury department has released a statement saying that it was “confident” Congress will raise it soon. 

In 2009, the interest alone will be $260 Billion.

…and here I thought my Visa card’s interest was bad.  

I wonder what would happen if I called them and said, ”My $15,000.00 limit is maxed out.  I have no money, and no way to pay it off.  Raise my limit!   Otherwise, I’ll be forced to stop buying worthless junk that doesn’t work for people who don’t want it.”

I’m sure they’d raise it straight away – just like Congress.

- Robert Laurie