Debt
It’s certainly reasonable to ask: How did the richest country in the world pile up more than $34 trillion in federal government debt?
Actually, it’s no mystery at all. Besides spending $17+ trillion just since 1992 on the military — three times what was needed to keep our country strong and safe — the wars the U.S. has started since 9/11 in the Middle East are costing us more than $8 trillion.
The colossal waste of such colossal sums of money in fighting endless wars, buying military junk we never needed — a lot of which doesn’t even work — and building almost 800 bases around the world so the U.S. could be Global Supercop, has had a catastrophic impact on our economy, and a devastating effect on the personal lives of tens of millions of Americans.
Why does the U.S. have to borrow money if it’s so wealthy?
The simple answer is that less money came in than went out. This is manifestly true but trivializes the irresponsibility and recklessness of the decisions which led to the catastrophic mess we find ourselves in.
What set the stage over many decades for our current calamity is a complex, often self-contradictory, ultimately self-destructive web of good intentions, bad intentions, self-serving agendas, sinister manipulations, rationalizations, loopy fantasies, skewed incentives, foolishness, innocence and cunning, married to callous and calculated deception of the general public by those who reap the rewards of the current arrangement. Most of the narratives about the wonders of neoliberalism capitalism and the economic miracle supposedly underway are fairy tales for mass consumption by the gullible and uniformed masses. And most of these narratives promote endless war.
Kosovo. Afghanistan. Iraq. Libya. Syria. Yemen. Somalia. Ukraine. Gaza.
Here’s the stark, undeniable reality …
NONE OF THESE WARS AND CONFLICTS HAD TO BE FOUGHT.
Period!
None of these countries or their leaders posed a threat to the American homeland. None of them attacked – would dare to attack – the United States. Even on the international stage, none of them were particularly hostile or critical of the U.S., except when America was seen as meddling in their internal affairs. All of these were wars, confrontations, and military interventions of choice.
Yeah yeah yeah. We had our reasons. We initiated the crises. We decided something “had to be done”. We decided that to get our way meant sending in the cruise missiles, fighter jets, drones, bombs, then the troops. We only play the diplomatic card to pave the way for war or to garner favorable public opinion, both at home and internationally. We don’t have time or patience for negotiation, compromise, cooperation. We talk to other countries down the barrel of a gun.
And we need to be honest: Has anything positive come of all our bullying, bombing, and bombast?
Our international reputation is in freefall.
Our belief in ourselves as a force for good is increasingly shaky.
Our confidence in our military might is an exercise in self-delusion.
Negligence and neglect of its own citizens is America’s ‘New Normal’.
Yes . . . war and wanton aggression are bankrupting America at every level.
We all pay the price and see all around us evidence of our catastrophic addiction to war.
The U.S. is in debt up to its eyebrows, at all levels, in every sector. This has produced a whole lot of misery, dysfunction, and avoidable societal decay.
POVERTY: The overall poverty rate and the child poverty rate both now stand at 12.4%. This means one out of eight U.S. citizens live at or below the official poverty line, an artificial threshold which many believe is an unrealistically low one at that.
HOMELESSNESS: Currently, the number of homeless people in America is staggering. From a recent Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) report: “On a single night in 2023, roughly 653,100 people – or about 20 of every 10,000 people in the United States – were experiencing homelessness.”
HEALTH AND NUTRITION: Americans simply are not very healthy. Specifically, poor health in the U.S. is the result of these factors: adverse birth outcomes, injuries and homicides, adolescent pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, drug-related mortality, obesity and diabetes, heart disease, chronic lung disease, disabilities such as arthritis and other activity limiting debilities, high rates of HIV/AIDS infection.
LONGEVITY: Directly related to the poor health and nutrition of America’s population is how long they live. In every other modern, developed nation it’s increasing. For Americans it’s in decline. The U.S. ranks 47th in the world, with the average lifespan of males now standing at 77.27, females 82.23 years. By comparison, in Hong Kong, which is #1, males live on average to be 83.00 and females 88.66. Preventable diseases, understandably, account for the bulk of early deaths. But there’s also a dramatic rise in suicides and drug overdoses.
EDUCATION: Public schools are being closed across the U.S. because of a lack of funds. In 2013, citing a shortfall of $1.4 billion, Philadelphia closed 23 schools. That same year, Chicago closed 49 elementary schools. Since 2000, Detroit has closed almost 200 public schools. This just a sampling of an ongoing crisis in public education unfolding across the U.S. at this time. As of 2021-22, 755 schools have been permanently shuttered.
HIGHER EDUCATION: Instead of making higher education available to as many people as possible, the U.S. has a two-tiered system. There are the very best colleges, only affordable to the very wealthy. Then there are the rest, so expensive they are barely affordable to everyone else. Most students resort to taking out loans. Millions graduate and are saddled with huge debts they will struggle to pay off over the next decade of their working life. Nearly 1 in 5 adults in the United States carry student loan debt.
We like to tell ourselves we’re the greatest country in the world. The greatest country in human history! And no doubt, we could be. Unfortunately, that’s far from the truth. We’re constantly being fed feelgood fairy tales — a polite phrase for ‘LIES’.
But it’s vital that we understand the mess we’re in is not just institutional. IT’S PERSONAL!
Personal Debt
The total home mortgage debt for the country stands at a record $12.6 trillion, as of the first quarter of 2023. While it’s a good sign that people own their own homes — at least are trying to own their own homes — elevated interest rates are making it more and more difficult. Home ownership is in fact on the decline.
In the latest numbers from the New York Federal Reserve, consumer credit card debt just made the biggest surge in history. The total outstanding is now $1.03 trillion and the rate of growth shows no signs of slowing.
At $1.55 trillion, automotive debt represents 9.17% of all consumer debt. Americans have little choice in the matter. Public transportation is minimal, too often not available at all. If they have a job and want to go to work, they drive, demanding a huge chunk of the family budget. In the first quarter of 2023, the average car payment for a new vehicle was $725 per month, used vehicles $516, leases coming in at $586 per month. As with credit card debt, delinquencies were on the rise, with 6.1% of auto loan buyers are currently behind on payments.
There is a total of $1.75 trillion outstanding on over 60.4 million student loans, affecting over 1 in 5 American adults.
Other debt mainly consists of medical debt and personal loans. Over 19.5 million Americans have personal loans averaging $18,255 totaling $356 billion. Over 23 million – that’s 9% of the adult population – owe medical debt. The Consumer Financial Protection Board puts the total for medical debt at $88 billion.
Add it up: U.S. citizens are personally in debt over $17.3 trillion! What does this portend for the future? Bankruptcies are up 16% over last year. The American Dream is turning into a horror show!
Can we blame all of America’s crises and deficiencies on the military?
Perhaps not directly.
But we certainly can blame our chronic inability to find the money to fix things on the endless wars and exorbitant DOD budgets. No money to invest in new industries. No money to fix our broken health care system. No money to make good quality education a universal right. No money to guarantee a livable wage, good jobs, and a safe working environment to all Americans. No money for efficient, environmentally friendly public transportation. We can’t even find the money to keep our roads in good condition and our bridges from falling apart.
Trillions and trillions going up in smoke — literally — squandered on completely unnecessary wars.