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This Chart of America’s Per Capita Debt Should Worry You

Feb. 23, 2012 3:40pm Becket Adams

The Senate Budget Committee Republican staff under Ranking Member Jeff Sessions (R-AL) released this alarming graph Thursday morning:

What does this mean?

Well, as the graph clearly indicates, America’s per capita government debt is worse than that of Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Greece (PIIGS), and France.

Get that? America’s per capita debt is worse than the PIIGS! You know, the countries primarily responsible for pulling the eurozone into financial catastrophe?

And it gets worse. As the Budget Committee notes, under the president’s plan, gross federal debt will reach $75,000 per capita by 2022.

Big deal. How important is this anyway?

Considering that per capita debt is a means of gauging the likelihood of a country’s ability to repay its debts, that is, it helps determine whether a country’s government bonds are at risk of default, we’d say that it’s a pretty big deal.

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Comments (180)

condera
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 1:49pm
Well, we have some posters on here who are indeed egrigiously trampling all over the ancient proverb “It is better to remain silent and be thought the fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.” First of all, the population of Greece and the United States are taken into account on a “per capita” basis. What per capita debt means is the amount of debt equally divided between all the members of the population. So, saying there are only 30 million +/- in Greece and 331 million +/- in the US is irrelevant as it has already been factored in to the per capita baseline. As for Ron Paul beuing mentally unstable, I challenge anyone to look not only at his voting record but his record of accurately predicting outcomes. Yes, back in 2002 when he laid out his decade of predictions, many people wrote him off as senile then. Amazingly, as the decade closes on his line of predictions this year, nearly every single one of his predictions has come to pass. Not so senile it would seem looking back. Even those which have not come to pass yet, are on track for coming to fruition in the not too distant future. I would say it would be very nice to have someone at the helm who better understands what is really happening and taking the correct actions to ensure the soundness abnd safety of our country.

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Founding Dad
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 1:16pm
We’re borrowing money at a rate of $4 billion a day in order to give money away to foreigh countries, most of whom don’t like us. We’re giving bailouts to billionaires here in our own Country. We’re giving billions to companies for the manufacture of products that is taking place in other Countries. More and more people are without jobs and fewer and fewer people are actually working, and it’s rapidly getting worse. THERE IS NO RECOVERY TAKING PLACE. Obama is reducing the workforce in order to lower the unemployment rate. We are still losing net jobs every single month. THERE IS NO RECOVERY TAKING PLACE. It is all an illusion. What is happening in Washington DC is pure insanity. We can’t spend our way to prosperity. Our federal government MUST BE DOWNSIZED in order to save our Country and our way of life. Right now, our federal government is spending more each year, than the combined incomes of every person, corporation and company in our country. This means, if everything in our Country was taxed at 100%, it still wouldn’t be enough to cover what the federal government is spending. What in the hell is going on????????

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semihardrock
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 12:13pm
To take it ONE STEP FURTHER….There are roughly 300 million people in the US compared to these small countries..

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- condera
  Posted on February 24, 2012 at 2:02pm
  Evidently, you failed to comprehend per capita calculations already include that step. Don’T believve me? See my main post at the end of this posting section where I demonstrate how it is already included in the calculation.
  
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cemerius
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 10:34am
When a toilet paper is worth more than a hundred dollar bill get your wheel barrels out and call them “wallets”!!!!

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Diego Roswell
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 10:28am
If the US government continues down the current path, and the people re-elect the current big spenders in DC, its over. I would say that there is a 50:50 chance of total economic collapse. Since not one spending cut has made it to the Senate and not a single cut in the growth in government spending has even been discussed this year, the odds are much higher. Take your money out of electronically accessible accounts. If you can access them, the government will.

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Fipper
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 9:52am
Great, we are number one. And, Obama keeps on spending and all he has to do is tax the rich. If he took all their money we stiil could not pay off our debt. Scary stuff.

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ThankBabyJesus
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 9:26am
Don’t worry our great leaders have it under control! -_-

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SgtB
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 9:24am
That graph is wrong. It is off by nearly 10 grand per individual. I’ve done the simple division myself and it was more. Also, it goes up drastically if you factor out those who no longer work (retired) or those under the age of 18.

Oh, and don’t forget that in a few years our taxes will skyrocket if we expect to keep up social security payments. In 2018 the soc. sec. admin. will start receiving less than it sends out and don’t think that they can use the soc. sec. trust fund without negative effects. The trust fund is comprised entirely of federal bonds, otherwise know as taxpayer IOU’s. Bonds are only issued when the money is loaned or borrowed. The entirety of the trust fund is spent and when they dip into it, it will actually mean that the current taxpayer will have to pay more income tax to pay back the bond holder (the trust fund) so that they retirees can get back “their” money that their congressmen already spent on them.

Remember, youth and vigor are bested by old age and treachery. And in a very literal sense, your grandparents and all soc. sec. beneficiaries are your masters. Obviously, I am implying that they are using the current generation as slaves for their benefit, and I’m right.

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rich43068
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 8:55am
Add in unfunded liabilities and state debt …. and it gets really ugly.

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str8blues
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 8:26am
Welcome to the PROBIEMSOLVER forum. This guy knows the law. (its what he says). So he cuts and pastes dopey youtube video’s as his sources for facts. REALLY? But he reads the LAW DICTIONARY. Derrrrr~! The rest of us are all stupid. PROBIEMSOLVER is all knowing. If you want to know about Ron Paul……he gives you a link to Ron Paul’s brothers youtube video…..SEEEEEE. It must be true…..its backed up by another Paul family member.
I bet Ron Paul cringes when he sees the cuts and pastes from lunatics like PROBLIEMSOLVER. In your face political persuasion doesn’t work with reasonable adults. Grow up!

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raderby
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 8:03am
now, can the rest of the USA’s citizens please wake up to the fact we have an enemy acting as president? nah- just some right-wing conspiracy.

prepare.

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ColoradoMaverick
Posted on February 24, 2012 at 5:28am
Sooner or later, working Americans and the people who create the jobs and pay the taxes will tire of this and refuse to pay their taxes. What are they going to do, put the entire country in jail? They couldn’t do that because the police officers and the people who run the jails are included in this group. We are getting sick and tired of giving more and more to people who refuse to do their share. Obama likes to go on about how the rich need to pay their “fair share” even though the rich are already paying the majority of the federal income taxes. What about asking the loafers and the takers in this country to “do their fare share”. That includes you Obama. You are a taker you know. We know what you tax returns looked like before you became president. We know that you only gave 0.005% of your income to charity. Taker…. Looser….slacker.

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Nigel2
Posted on February 23, 2012 at 11:39pm
Do you mean bad because of the numbers or the fact it shows the exact same flag for 3 different numbers?

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- raderby
  Posted on February 24, 2012 at 8:05am
  you color-blind? or have your computer monitor set for VGA 16 color? (an old WIN 3.11 choice)
  
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Wes Hardin
Posted on February 23, 2012 at 10:29pm
If you were to pay your taxes the national debt wouldn’t be so large.

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RightPolitically
Posted on February 23, 2012 at 10:10pm
They just don’t know how to shut off the spending. Washington is out of control. They all belong in jail, at least all of those who keep voting more spending.

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TexOkie
Posted on February 23, 2012 at 10:02pm
And since nearly 50% of the population does not pay taxes, it means that the “fair share” of those of use that do is $88,430.

Got to love that economic justice.

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- RightPolitically
  Posted on February 23, 2012 at 10:14pm
  Pay your fair share and like it. No, no, pay every lazy incompetent loser’s fair share too!
  
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West Coast Patriot
Posted on February 23, 2012 at 9:58pm
No problem here if we could just get Paul in the White House: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-23/paul-s-plan-would-lower-debt-while-rivals-wouldn-t-report-says.html

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MrKnowItAll
Posted on February 23, 2012 at 9:17pm
Greece is no different then Mexico. One guy I worked with got his 25 years in here in the U.S.A..Making $28.00 a hour. For 25 years he lived in a $35.00 a week DUMP, ate hot dogs and macaroni and cheese EVERYDAY. The last thing he told me was Bye, now I go back to Mexico and live the rest of my life being treated and living like a KING.
Another guy who came from Greece worked his **** off here and ended up owning a Bar in Hamtramck. After 10 years of that he told me the same thing as the Mexican Guy I knew.
My Point is no matter where you are if you have money. You are it.

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dgremark12
Posted on February 23, 2012 at 9:17pm
Don’t worry about it, we have NOTHING left to lose! Thank you leeches!

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symphonic
Posted on February 23, 2012 at 9:12pm
PER CAPITA can be IRRELEVANT. It depends on wealth and cash flow. If a man has 100,000 debt, and another man has 100,000 debt, but the first man has a job that pays him 1000 an hour, and the second man has a job that pays him 10 dollars an hour, who is is more trouble here?

How much does Greece MAKE? that’s what matters, NOT per capita! I do know how to read graphs, being an engineer.

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RinkyDink34
Posted on February 23, 2012 at 8:52pm
ABO in November and we can start to save our Republic

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Ajohn
Posted on February 23, 2012 at 8:42pm
To DTHOMP and to those that responded to his accusation that SS is the fault of the older generation: In 1935 when this abortion was signed by Roosevelt, I did not exist. However, I HAD to pay into the SS “contractual agreement” since I was fourteen. I worked as many as three jobs for schooling and to raise children; every job contributing into this Ponzi scheme. Now at 66, I was dismissed and had to go the SS route. Because of inflation the money promised is a fraction of what it was in the fifties. And now who is going to riot? Not me and not my generation. It will be the younger generations that have been spoon fed, and are told you may have to work until you are seventy and oh by the way you may have to pay your own way until then. Well guess what, I am now looking for a retail job and will be working until I am past seventy.

And by the way, what a shock when I went to the SS office, finding most of the folks waiting in a packed room were not of American origin and many had to have an interpreter to communicate. Now how the heII did that happen? Also learning my years of payments were borrowed by congress to fund wasteful projects with nothing more than an IOU to SS. Even FDR would be shocked to see what happed to SS. You can blame us for voting for these dufusses, but I can tell you that 90% of what happens in congress, happens behind closed doors for some voting minority. So DTHOMP suck it up and get to work and don’t forget to vote these parasits out.

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clizbe1
Posted on February 23, 2012 at 8:39pm
Its not the the vote that counts but the counter that counts. The counters are all picked and organized. I follow MO.org.The cemetarys, the Gimmies and the Faux voters are ready willing and able. So far were still behind!.

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Netsurfer2
Posted on February 23, 2012 at 8:36pm
As far as I am concerned I paid my debts and I don’t owe the government anything! The government being in debt just reminds me of why we should never trust our money with incompetent organizations! I did not have any say what the government would do with my tax dollars, nor would they care because its not out of their pockets! I pay my taxes and work 60 hours a week! I paid for my education while working full time! Do you really think I would trust a bunch of lawyers who say one thing and do another, not to mention the ear marks they get while ripping the people off blind??? I don’t trust any lawyer! What about the common person in our society???

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- progressiveslayer
  Posted on February 23, 2012 at 9:30pm
  Sadly politicians don’t really care about us,they only care about staying in office until they die because they all become millionaires after they’re in office for a few years.Our government is corrupt to the core and most politicians are criminals.Our day of reckoning is fast approaching and they,the thieving politicians, know it and it’s still not too late to get out of this mess but they won’t correct the problem because the problem is spending and they’ll never stop spending until the system collapses.
  
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Wigglesworth
Posted on February 23, 2012 at 8:19pm
Another Baroke Obama milestone.

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