Thursday, April 12, 2012

Federal Deficit -- Absolutely, Absolutely Nothing To Do With The Bakken

From the print edition of the WSJ, this date, no link.

Data points (some numbers rounded):
  • the US federal government set a new record in March, 2012
  • the US federal government spent $1,200 per each American man, woman, and child 
  • the average American paid $550 in March to cover this lavish spending
  • obviously not sustainable if only Americans invested in US debt
  • fortunately the global investor is investing in US debt
  • spread across 7 billion non-American residents of planet Earth, the shortfall is only $30/person
  • through the year 2000, the US took on gross debt of <$6 trillion
  • by the government's own estimate, the US will exit 2012 with $15 trillion in debt
The biggest new federal program, ObamaCare, has not kicked in (as far as I know) which could affect the debt up or down.  Maybe with health care savings, the debt will be significantly reduced; the stock market certainly doesn't seem unnerved by expectations that the US will be $15 trillion in debt in about eight months. Last month it (the stock market) was all about Greek debt.

No comments:

Post a Comment