The total federal government estimated debt is $19.3 trillion dollars, but this number probably is way under the true debt if one was to take into account legacy programs such as governmental guaranteed pensions, healthcare, and social security which could easily double or even triple our current debt levels. To get an idea of how vast this amount of money is, consider that the entire Gross Domestic Product on an annual basis for America is around $18 trillion dollars. While, some people might not be too concerned about our debt levels because it just seems as if the business of America is business, and that business appears to be functioning okay, the fact of the matter is, debt is money borrowed, typically with an associated interest rate and other miscellaneous payment terms, to which the debt-holder is not only legally entitled to that money being paid back but has rights to it. This means, in short, when it comes to debt that it is never going to be a free ride that at some point, there will come a reckoning.
As reported by the newyorkfed.org, "As of March 31, 2016, total household indebtedness was $12.25 trillion," which represents how much debt in aggregate the citizens of America owe to their debt-holders. This means that taken together the amount of debt between our federal obligations as well as our consumer obligations is a minimum of $31.55 trillion dollars, a sum which is truly unfathomable. Considering on this staggering amount of debt, the question might well be asked as to what do we as a country own or we as people own, if we were to be honest and stipulate that things that we have not fully paid for, are not truly our own. It should be recognized that in absence of timely payments to these loans, debt-holders can avail themselves of a multitude of options to enforce their rights to our property or things that we consider being our own which are actually contingent upon us making continually good on our obligations until the debt has been fully satisfied.
Perhaps, America has done it all wrong, that far better than living in a sea of debt, which appears to have spiraled almost completely out of control, that this country and its citizens, would be better served, if we were more fiscally conservative, which translated means, taking on far less debt, and living more within the means of our current situation and income. While the argument against not taking on personal debt, would be that we would have to thereby postpone big purchases for items such as cars and houses, a reasoned response might be that loans and debts are never free, and at a minimum we need to seriously consider making far larger down payments on big purchases to demonstrate that we are fiscally responsible, as opposed to leveraging up at ridiculous levels, and hoping that everything will just work out okay. As for the federal government, it needs to have a balanced budget so as to put an end to its current policy of actively encouraging a feeding frenzy at the public trough and instead get its fiscal house in order so as to set a prudent example for its citizens to learn from.
America and its citizens need to reverse its current course on debt as well as to remember the wise words of our Founding Father, George Washington, that: "to contact new debts is not the way to pay old ones."