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According to The Washington Post, the US Gross Domestic Product in 2009 was $14.2 trillion, while the country’s debt was $7.5 trillion, or 53 percent of the GDP. Now, I’m not an economist—as a matter of fact I had real difficulties with Econ 101 at school—but that’s a lot of moolah, both produced and owed. It’s actually a frightening amount of green, and predictions are not reassuring. The same article in the Post saw the debt rise to 78 percent of the GDP by 2015 and 90 percent in 2020.

How in the world did that happen?

How did a country based on the values of thrift, budget, economy and financial responsibility get into such a shameful predicament?

When I was a kid newly arrived to the States, my parents went to the local bank and opened a savings account for me. I was given a small blue book by the teller, and every time I got a few bucks, earned or given, I took them to the same bank and the same employee who would enter the amount in the book, tabulate it, stamp it, and return it to me. It was my most prized possession. When I had $100 I asked permission to take $10 out to buy a pair of boxing gloves because the neighborhood bully was harassing me and I wanted to beat him to a pulp. It turned out to be a piss-poor investment. The kid had been taking boxing lessons at the local boy’s club and beat the crap out of me. I learned something: think twice before buying.

The only money I owe right now is my mortgage. I pay off credit cards monthly, try—and sometimes fail—to live within a sane budget, and attempt to neither lender nor a borrower be. Apparently, that’s not the norm.

According to Creditcards.com, there are some frightening statistics out there...

•Average credit card debt per household with credit card debt: $16,007


•Total credit cards in circulation in U.S: 576.4 million, as of yearend 2009

•Total debit cards in circulation in U.S: 507 million, as of yearend 2009 

•Average number of credit cards held by cardholders: 3.5, as of yearend 2008

•Average APR on new credit card offer: 14.45 percent

•Average APR on credit card with a balance on it: 14.31 percent, as of December 31, 2009

•Total U.S. revolving debt (98 percent of which is made up of credit card debt): $864.4 billion, as of January 2010

•Total U.S. consumer debt: $2.46 trillion, as of January 2010

•U.S. credit card 60-day delinquency rate: 4.5 percent.

•U.S. credit card default rate: 11.37 percent. 
We’ve become a people that can’t say no. On a national level, politicians who have to be elected and re-elected are loath to refuse constituents’ requests, even irrational ones. They agree to more and more spending, fully aware that nobody stays within budgetary bounds. 

Internationally, we funds wars with borrowed money, and finance our overseas adventures with costly and unwise investments. Doing so, we sacrifice the education, health, and well-being of our population.

Individually, we can’t stay away from bigger homes, newer cars, iPads and sushi. We’ve learned that collecting debts is difficult, that the more we owe the bank, the more we own the bank. We like our gadgets, our toys, our second homes, our trips to Disney and Sea World.

We’ll pass the debt on to our kids, is what we’ll do. Or we’ll go bankrupt. But then, that’s OK too. The credit card companies love bankrupt people who start afresh with no debt at all. As a matter of fact, the companies actively romance such folks and offer them brand new cards at only slightly higher APRs.

Is this a great country or what?