Friday, July 31, 2015

U.S. debt ceiling visualized in $100 bills

A picture, they say, is worth a thousand words. How about $16.394 trillion of them?

Here's a fascinating link showing what the current U.S. economy is, using $100 bills to illustrate.


"United States owes a lot of money," says the article. "As of 2012, U.S. debt is larger than the size of the economy. The debt ceiling is currently set at $16.394 trillion and approaching rapidly."

Here's ten thousand dollars:


Here's a million dollars:


And a billion.


See this link for the full impact of the visuals. And this, my friends, is our current debt ceiling, $16.394 trillion. I had to seriously shrink the illustration in order to get a screen capture of it, but suffice it to say each of those stacks towering over the Statue of Liberty consists of dense cubes, each cube of which is a billion dollars.


This is not good.

9 comments:

  1. I am not a fan of debt and avoid it except for my land and home. (Which is a very small amount of money on loan)

    However, because money is no longer tied to gold or any other item of value that debt seems unreal. The only thing tied to that debt is the reputation of the US government and that is shot in my mind already.

    When you figure out what each person owes and how much new debt is being generated each year there is no way, no way it will ever be paid. Even if we inflate our way out of debt the government appointees will just continue to spend the 'new money'.

    Can anyone think of a solution?

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  2. Wow, I mean, really - ouch. Gotta link this....

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  3. A good visual of what we Americans have gotten ourselves into - and by the way, the debt has since gone up to over $18 billion. The government list of current debt is here: http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/debt/current
    Note that this is only the 'official' debt, but it is still daunting!

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    1. Dear Jonathan, I believe you meant the national debt has grown to over $18 TRILLION, an amount that is MUCH higher than $18 billion!

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  4. The debt is good if you're a banker... Nothing like collecting a little interest...

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  5. Does it even have a meaning any more. Our government has made the debt so enormous that it no longer holds any real meaning for us. We have no idea what it means to have that kind of debt responsibility. There is no way it can be repaid....and with the status quo, it will only grow. It only means what the powers that be want it to mean. It has lost all meaning to our rational minds......there is no solution.

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  6. There IS a solution to this... a way out of our debt predicament. From what I have read, seen and heard over the past many years, our biggest problem has been our 2-party system. It isn't a problem for those who want to control us and our nation, but it is definitely a problem for We The People! A 2-party system is almost as easy to control as a 1-party system. You want this guy or gal to be elected? Just make the one running against him/her look like a total idiot, a fool, a liar, an adulterer, whatever it takes to discredit him/her and prevent people from voting for them. A good example was Governor Dukakis when he ran against Bush senior. Obviously Bush was the one who those in power wanted elected! Dukakis was made to look like a complete buffoon, and what didn't help him was his weekend furlough of inmates in his jails. Even though some of them had committed rape, burglary and even murder while on "furlough," Dukakis would not stop his program. Then a popular monthly magazine read around the world exposed his furlough program. And he ran for president? He didn't stand a chance. Americans would have voted for ANYONE but him! And they did.
    Our 2-party system is a tried and true way to divide and conquer us. Alexander the Great perfected it, and it has been dividing and conquering people around the world ever since. We The People need to get OUT of the 2-party system. We need to start electing Independents. Two parties are a snap to control, but four, six or even EIGHT parties? Not so easy! Which is why independents are never invited to the presidential debates. A few years back, one such independent who was running for president tried to participate in the presidential debates. They wouldn't let him in the building. When he insisted, they arrested him and threw him in jail for the night! --Fred in AZ

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  7. How appropriate putting the Statue of Liberty in total darkness with America's towering debt.
    Montana Guy

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  8. We cannot pay off our debt and make no mistake we never will pay it off. We (the federal government) cannot live within the budget we must borrow money simply to meet all our committments. As the interest rates rise (and they will rise eventually) we will not be able to pay the interest on the debt. Sooner or later we must renege on the debt,disavow it, declare bankruptcy, whatever you call it sooner or later we will stop pretending we ever intended to pay it off. This will make the great depression look like a paid vacation. It will be a disaster like we have never seen or imagined in this country. The only unknown is when will this happen?

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