Who’s afraid of the Big, Bad national debt? Lots of people it seems. And, in case you haven’t noticed, everyone from politicians to investors to think tanks to the media thinks we’re bankrupt.
- “The country is technically bankrupt. If you and I were in business, we would have to declare bankruptcy. Governments print money so they can get away with it. But we are insolvent and the debt will never be paid for.” -Ron Paul
- “No, the U.S. will go bankrupt. It’s just, look at the numbers, it is impossible [to pay back the debt].” -Jim Rogers
- “A chaotic future will be the result if our representatives continue to fail at their fiscal restructuring responsibilities… our nation’s fiscal mess is like a life threatening cancer that is not being treated.” -Robert Rodriguez, FPA Advisors
- “Our nation is going broke, and we are passing the costs of these misguided policies to our children and their children… we are certain to face a financial crisis like Greece or Portugal.” -Heritage Foundation, 2011 Saving the American Dream Plan
- “Nation’s debt passes grim milestone” -MSNBC Headline 1/9/2012
Even our own government is sure we are broke and our national debt is choking economic growth. Below is a slide from a presentation given to Greg Mankiw’s infamous Harvard EC10 class by Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas W. Elmendorf on February 24, 2012.
It’s official then: everyone agrees it seems, we are bankrupt. Time to move to Canada before the national debt apocalypse is upon us.
Before we panic, let’s look at some facts. We will also go over why the CBO’s slides are dead wrong. Curious statistics point to the fact that maybe we aren’t bankrupt after all.
