The United States government is over $17 trillion in debt. That is over $56,641 of debt for every man, woman, and child in the country.
In the past four years alone, debt has skyrocketed from 75% to more than 105% of GDP:
It’s not just the size of the debt itself, but the pace at which it is increasing. In fiscal 2013, interest payments on the debt totaled $222.75 billion, or 6% of all government spending. Some money funds have stopped buying securities due to fears of a US default, demonstrating to us that the process of issuing securities for debt cannot continue forever. The more debt our government builds up, the harder it is to keep borrowing.
The source of much of this growing debt is spending on Social Security and Medicare. If we are going to pay for these programs in the long run, we need a new strategy. According to New York Times blogger Nate Silver:
It’s one of the most fundamental …