From The San Francisco Chronicle, 3/11/07:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/03/11/BUGC2OHQJ01.DTL

National debt load is a fiscal time bomb

By David Lazarus


Let's say someone is spending about 11 percent of his or her paycheck
to cover interest on outstanding debt.

Erica Sandberg, a spokeswoman for Consumer Credit Counseling Service
of San Francisco, says she'd immediately advise that person to seek
help.

"This is a huge amount of a person's paycheck just to make ends meet,"
Sandberg said.

"That's never smart. If you're borrowing that much, you might feel
good for the short term. But over the long haul, you're going to be in
real trouble."

Unfortunately, the person she's talking about is you -- and everybody
you know.

As the national debt approaches a staggering $9 trillion, roughly $240
billion will be spent this year paying interest on the half that's
held by public creditors (of which Japan and China are the largest).

That translates to about 11 percent of projected tax revenue.

In other words, we're spending more on interest for our national
credit card bill than was spent last year in discretionary funds for
the Education, Veterans Affairs and Justice departments combined.

And at the rate we're borrowing, experts say, the amount of annual
interest payments could double within 10 years.

"The danger is not the current level," said Brian Riedl, senior budget
analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation.

"The danger is that future trends are very bad. Within the next 10 or
20 years, our debt will spiral out of control.

"That scares the hell out of me," he said.

This is one of those issues that's difficult for many people to get
their minds around.

Figures in the trillions of dollars, time frames that look decades
down the road -- this isn't the way most of us think.

But the plain fact is that, as with the debt that so many people owe
on their plastic, the consequences of financially reckless behavior
can be severe.

If nothing is done to rein in the national debt, all Americans face
the prospect of significantly higher taxes to continue meeting our
financial obligations.

We also face the prospect of rising interest rates as our profligate
ways represent an increasingly greater risk to creditors.

Rising rates, in turn, would drive up our annual interest payments,
which would require even higher taxes or, more likely, increased
borrowing.

And before you know it, rock star Bono will be making the rounds of
other countries asking if they'll offer us some debt relief.

"By 2045, if we stay on our current path, all federal revenue will be
used to pay interest on the debt," said Josh Gordon, senior policy
analyst at the Concord Coalition, a nonpartisan budget watchdog group
in Washington.

"It's insane," he said.

Last week, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said during a TV interview
that he's "feeling good about the U.S. economy" and isn't particularly
worried about the growing amount of IOUs in the hands of other
countries.

"As I look at the demand for ... U.S. Treasurys, I'm very pleased to
see demand from all around the world -- from governments, from
individuals -- it's a positive that foreign investors want to own our
Treasurys," he said.

International investors, including central banks, held 51 percent of
the $4.3 trillion in publicly offered Treasurys as of December, up
from 34 percent of the almost $3 trillion total when President Bush
took office in January 2001.

Japan, with $644 billion in American IOUs, is our biggest foreign
creditor.

China ($350 billion) is second, followed by Britain ($239 billion) and
oil-exporting countries ($100 billion).

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http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/

U.S. NATIONAL DEBT CLOCK

The Outstanding Public Debt as of 12 Mar 2007 at 12:43:18 AM GMT is:

$ 8 , 8 3 9 , 5 3 1 , 5 9 3 , 1 9 2 . 4 7

The estimated population of the United States is 301,160,952
so each citizen's share of this debt is $29,351.52.

The National Debt has continued to increase an average of
$2.04 billion per day since September 29, 2006!

Harry