Momma, How Much is a Trillion?

Okay, so no one asked me this today, but after hearing a little mis-information on the radio this morning, it got my gears turning (and grinding a bit...).  It was a really simple mistake, I caught someone saying a Trillion dollars is a million Billions... that's not quite right... a Trillion dollars is a thousand billions, or a million millions (a million squared).  There's 12 zeroes after the trillion... that's a lot of 0s

Our country owes SOMEONE 14.5 Trillion bucks... If that number is accurate (lesson of the day... where does that website get their info? I don't know, but the number does roughly match what I've heard in other media sources, so I am using it for blogging purposes, I wouldn't trust it if, say, I was writing a check to pay off my share.  When you hear information, check your sources people), each tax payer in the US has an extra $130K in debt.  Its our country, it's our debt. 

I can only speak for myself, but whether the money is owed by the government on my behalf, or owed by me personally, it's unsettling at best.  The personal debt of my family is less than the debt the government has incurred "on behalf" of both my husband and I.  We're not rich, but we're not impoverished, so when the amount the average American "owes" is more than what I am comfortable owing as a 2 working parent family, something needs to change. 

Every now and then, I venture off into some conspiracy tangents, but I try to keep them reigned in.  Really, I'm not worried who it is making the decisions to put me into debt... what I am worried about is the alarming rate it is increasing, and how to make it stop.

Here's a few things to consider-

Who makes the money, as in, what agency is responsible for literally creating money.  It's NOT the US government.  The Federal Reserve, while in theory has oversight from our government, in reality is a seperate institution, sanctioned by the US government, but not tied to it, other than having the power to tell the little banks what to do, and loaning their printed money to the government at interest.  The US has the power and authority to print their own money, they just choose not to (Interestingly, JFK tried it for a bit, printing Silver Certificates, legal tender-money backed by silver sitting in US coffers... No president has done that since according to my research)

How does the national debt compare to your personal debt?  If you add in 130K for each taxpayer in your family, how much more does your debt add up to?  How do you feel about that?   What if you were given the option to pay it off?  Would you?  Could you?  Is it feasible in your lifetime to pay off an extra 130K? 260K?  Will your kids grow up saddled with worry about if their government is going to allow an outside agency to create inflation that drives away industry and jobs?

If you've supported social programs in the past (or present) that the government funds, does it feel different to know that you 130K of public debt, that you own, increases with each program?  That whenever we provide free health care, that the cost of services is being added right in there?  If you were going to get a bill, you might ask up front how much the service would cost, but since the government doesn't really advertise the idea that you are your own soverign nation, they don't tell you the cost, or encourage you to ask... they just put it on your tab.  Or your kids tab... or your grandchildren's tab.