US Government debt levels have risen above $21 trillion for the first time yesterday, standing now significantly higher than the yearly tax receipts income of around $3.27 trillion, half a trillion of which goes towards debt interest payments.
The borrowing rate is increasing at an accelerating speed. It used to be half a trillion a year, it now stands at $1 trillion every six months.
As government spending is far higher than its income, it keeps borrowing at higher levels each year, otherwise called the deficit.
As such, it first needs to close that gap, before starting to repay the capital itself, with projections for both continuing to be pushed forwards every year.
To concertize it, if we compare government income to an average wage of $30,000 a year, the US government owes 7 times its income, standing at $210,000.
On top, it is spending around $40,00 a year, thus is growing that debt by around $10,000 each year, now accelerating it to $10,000 every six months.
For an average family, that $210,000 would be a mortgage, but what house the US government is buying is unclear. There is a hint however:
Government debt levels were pretty stable prior to the 2008 banking collapse. They gradually grew since the 50s, but at a far slower pace than tax income grew.
As can be seen above, it took five years for government debt to rise by one trillion between 2000 and 2005, despite that period seeing the dotcom crash, the horrible events of 2001 and the launching of two wars.
Then, around 2008, government debt levels double. They continue to quickly grow, and have now more than doubled since then.
Making the above projected estimates very wrong. They projected in 2016 the gap between income and spending would close by 2027, but not turn into a surplus – that is more income than spending – until after that.
That’s clearly not the case as government debt is some $7 trillion higher now than it was projected only two years ago. Raising questions regarding the basis of such projections.
Around 50% of this debt is foreign governments, banks and funds lending to the United States government through bond markets. Showing some high degree of trust considering 7x income debt levels.
But that trust can always swing, and more importantly, taxpayers are effectively burning half a trillion a year in debt interest, now nearing a trillion. A third of all tax income. So giving it to banks and government funds and rich billionaires that hold these bonds.
And doing so for decades to come, because there seems to be no end in sight to this constant evergrowing borrowing bubble.
