the u.s. is about 8 or 9 trillion dollars in debt but our GDP, the amount of money we make each year, is around 12 or 13 trillion dollars. Clearly, we can pay it back and still have around 6 trillion dollars for our budget. So why don't we pay it back?
Don't say that we can't pay it back because we can--just do the math. Or go the CIA's website to get the figures.
2007-10-17 10:54:25 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics & Government ➔ Government
Because we're spending more than the $13,000,000,000,000 that we make every year. Think about it, over a hundred billion are going just to Iraq every month!
I've got to laugh at people who blame Democrats. When Bill Clinton left office, there was a surplus. Now there's a defecit. The math isn't that hard kids.
2007-10-17 10:57:51 · answer #1 · answered by Beardog 7 · 2⤊ 4⤋
The GDP is the total money made by everyone -- so, it would require everyone contributing about 90% of their income as taxes -- and that would just be to pay off the debt -- it doesn't cover the actual expenses that year.
The problem is -- the govt (currently) spends much more than it takes in via taxes -- and that deficit each year increases the debt. Plus there is the interest on the loans that cover the past debt -- and we can only afford to barely pay off the interest, in addition to other spending (mostly, military and welfare right now).
We'd first need to balance the budget -- so that we're not deficit spending -- before we can even start applying money toward paying off the debt. And the problem with that -- the interest on the existing debt, plus the current annual expenditures -- are so high a total that the entire GDP is not enough to pay it off in a single year.
So, for at least 2 years, the govt would have to take 90% or more of what everyone made -- can you afford to pay a 90% tax bracket?
2007-10-17 18:00:18 · answer #2 · answered by coragryph 7 · 2⤊ 3⤋
Our government borrows all of its money from the federal reserve. The federal reserve is made up of private bankers. Our tax money goes to repay the loans. So we can't technically, ever be out of debt.
2007-10-17 18:15:35 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 1⤋
We're broke from social welfare spending and we have no money. It's called a deficit. We take in less than we spend. Hence, no pay-down of the debt.
2007-10-17 17:58:38 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
Because the Democrats wouldn't have anything to whine about to bilk more taxes out of the people to pay for their expansion of socialism.
To the bonehead below me, there was NOT a surplus. There was a projection of one. Get your facts straight.
2007-10-17 17:57:25 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 4⤋
Yeah OK, I'll get right on that....where did you go to business school?
2007-10-17 17:58:11 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋