American Debt

If you wonder how much is American debt, just google for a live debt clock.

e.g: http://www.usdebtclock.org/ has official numbers released from US treasury, FED, etc. Just click on any number to understand what they mean.

As I understand,

The national debt, which is the debt of government alone is approx. $14 trillion (or approx. $45,000 per US citizen)

The total debt of US, which includes company and individual debts is a staggering $55 trillion ( or approx. $173,000 per person)

On an average US adds approx. $3 billion in debt everyday!!

When can people pay back the money....my guess is at least 2-3 decades.

So when the next recession comes, which will be a sovereign debt crisis (like the one in Greece, Ireland), it will be bad and US will probably take 1-2 decades to recover from it.

When will the crisis hit?? - Seems like a hard question...It should have already hit, but people have so much confidence in the US and the US dollar that it hasn't happened yet.

1) Some believe US will never go down...you can judge that for yourself with the debt numbers you saw.

2) The US Comptroller General believes 2013

3) Some investors say it may be 5-8 years

So how did this problem come about?

The answer is easy. For the past 2 decades Americans have been borrowing money ( mainly from Asia and Middle East) and spending it to buy products made in Asia and oil from Middle East.

That sounds stupid as I write...and yes you probably guessed it right - people who gave money to Americans should have lost their minds!!

They lent money probably believing a false American image - "Nothing can happen to America...". People who lent money will also pay a heavy price when America goes down. They have probably realized this and are trying to postpone the inevitable or preparing themselves before facing reality.