Really: Just How Bad Is America's Debt/Spending Problem?

If you don't already know, maybe this little piece of napkin economics will make it clear how f*cked we truly are:

And if you're feeling like shrugging this all off with the old "Well, it's bad, but in comparison to everyone else, we look good", well...I still think that maybe you ain't quite getting the gravity of the situation.  They do, though, over at the New York Post:

....measured as a percentage of GDP (the value of all goods and services produced in a country over a year), our budget deficit is roughly a quarter larger than France’s. In fact, among European countries, only Greece and Ireland have larger deficits this year than we do.

The debt figures paint an even grimmer picture. If one includes all the unfunded liabilities of pension and health-care systems, Greece’s total debt equals 875% of its GDP. France, the next-most insolvent country in Europe, owes 570% of GDP. The United States, however, now owes 885% of GDP, more than any other industrialized country.

We have been able to avoid disaster so far only because, as the world’s preferential currency, other countries have been willing to lend us money cheaply. But that is not going to continue forever. And if our creditors begin to hike interest rates, we will be facing the same economic consequences facing so much of Europe today.



But don't worry. That will never happen here. Because Barack Obama will save us by..."investing" money in green energy projects while stopping the construction of oil pipelines, by "investing" more money in "education", by spreading broadband internet to barns and corn fields, by raising taxes on the rich, not-so-rich, almost rich, and lower-upper-middle class, and...by killing Osama bin Laden. Again and again, if necessary.

Yeah. We're in touch with reality, all right...