Anyone who reads the news is aware that there has been (and still is, and probably will be for quite some time) a big to-do about the stimulus plan. This thread ain’t to discuss that - there’s plenty of other threads that have been around on this board much longer that deal with that part of the equation, and I’m not about to start up another one.
What I’m wondering is why nobody ever focuses on the amount of personal debt in the US? Surely this is as much a problem as government spending…
(if someone already addressed this, and I just didn’t find it, please feel free to set me straight…)
In the last 28 years, since I first got old enough to become aware of the national debt, I’ve seen a lot more discussion of personal debt than national debt. In fact, other than select groups like the Concord Coalition or other minor comments, I’ve only seen extensive discussion about the multi-trillion dollar national debt within the past five months blaming it on Obama and the Democrats.
What bugs me is that after many decades of “Americans are spending far too much, and getting far too much in debt! This is awful for the nation!”, now all I hear is “Americans are saving far too much, and not spending enough! This is awful for the nation!”
People talk about personal debt all the time. But solving that problem requires 100,000,000 different approaches. You can talk about it all you want, but there is not an “answer.” The federal government is one entity. There isn’t an “answer” there either, but only a very tiny number of approaches can be taken at once so it is talkable about.
I think personal debt is more difficult to quantify. I’ve read articles that suggest the average debt load per family is not really as high as it seems. Many people charge everything on a credit card and pay it off in full every month. Should that be considered personal debt? I don’t think they have a good handle on all the variables.
Other responses in this thread support this claim, so maybe I’ve just been missing the boat on this type of discussion, both here and elsewhere. But, it’s worth noting that personal debt currently outstrips even the multi-trillion dollar national debt.
While there may be a number of different ways to approach this issue, it seems to me that there is in fact one answer - to stop spending more than we earn. It also seems to me that this would be worthy of discussion…
Hum… maybe I’m just sensitive to hearing a particular slant. I unfortunately live in the district represented by Michelle Bachman who is rabidly anti-Democrat and has been harping on how terrible it is that the debt is now growing with no acknowledgement of deficit spending of the Reagan, GHW Bush or GW Bush administrations.
I’ve also heard it mentioned in numerous news reports over the past few months on NPR, with a sharp increase associated with the “tea party” protests last month.
If you are referring to a previous thread, a link would be nice so that we can all be up to speed. If you aren’t referring to a previous thread, this comment makes absolutely no sense.