Is it just me? If you’re an American as I am, are you worried about the debt our nation owes? As I write, it is approaching 13.3 TRILLION dollars.
If I don’t pay any debt I owe there will be consequences. Does our government and the American way of life not face these same consequences?
The problem I see is the average American just doesn’t realize how much trouble we are in. They don’t know how much IS 13.3 TRILLION dollars.
So, how much is a single trillion? A single trillion is 1 followed by 12 zeros. That is 1,000,000,000,000. It is a million million. Want to SEE it in dollars, go here.
But again, most Americans can’t seem to grasp the significance of such a large number.
I have always been fascinated by the speed of light – the FASTEST thing in the universe. The speed of light is 186,282 miles per second. Again, 186,282 MILES per SECOND.
Why do I relate the speed of light to 13.3 trillion dollars of debt? Because just 10 trillion dollars, laid end to end would take light almost an HOUR and a HALF to travel from one end to the other. That is just 10 TRILLION – not 13.3! This number blows my mind and we Americans are in trouble.
Remember, the American government is not a business. It doesn’t make or produce anything it can sell to help satisfy this debt. It can ONLY tax us, its citizens. What happens when we, the people, can no longer afford the debt?
Update! 1/3/2011 – now 14 Trillion
Update! 11/16/2011 – now over 15 Trillion!
No, it is not me, it is definitely US.
Is it just me or am I seeing this wrong?
This is just hypothetical but lets say I sell lemonade on a corner in town. My costs for this lemonade are 80 cents per glass and I sell a glass for 1 dollar. My profit is 20 cents per glass.
Now, the City’s town council decides to TAX businesses in town 10 cents on every dollar made. What just happened to my 20 cents profit? Mind you, I get great service for this 10 cents – such as police and fire protection, but I’m out 10 cents on EVERY dollar – 50% of my profit.
Being the business person I am, I want to make 20 cents, not 10. So, what would you do? Most people would raise the price of the lemonade to $1.10. At least I would. So, who is actually paying this tax? Me? No, my customers are paying it.
What just happened? The same thing that occurs EVERYDAY in America. Politicians say that corporations are making too much profit therefore they want to tax that profit. They pass tax laws to do so.
Wouldn’t you think those corporations will do the same thing I did in the above scenario? They will raise their prices. Who ends up paying for this tax increase? You, their customers!
What bothers me is most Americans agree with this philosophy of taxing corporations to support government.
What they don’t understand is they’re really taxing themselves.
So, is it just me or is it US?
For more reading on this I would recommend the following article and blog post.
My son, a person I consider a genius in his own right, introduced me to Seth Godin whom he described as a genius in a twitter tweet. This tweet led me to Seth’s blog and specifically to the post: “What’s the point?”
Seth describes how an idea turns into a meeting and then into a project where ” people get brought along, there’s free donuts, there’s a whiteboard and even a conference call.” My whole corporate life was like this. More time was wasted MEETING about a projected idea than actually implementing the idea.
The TV show “The Office” personifies this so well where time is always wasted doing work definitely NOT worth doing. I was a fan of the British series before the American version came about. It amazes me how the show epitomizes “work” in the corporate environment I knew.
The Office is going into its seventh season. Like everything else, it will come to an end. In the mean time, check out Seth Godin’s blog. I think my son was right, he is a genius.
