The Staggering Government Debt

By Richard Dowson Opinion/Commentary

A country’s National Debt is just like a personal debt on your credit card.

Each month you should pay off the debt and start all over again. If you can’t afford to pay off the debt monthly, you pay down some of the principle plus Interest on the outstanding debt.

Provinces and Countries do the same.

They should pay down their National Debt a little bit and then pay interest on the balance.

Saskatchewan’s Provincial Debt

Some, like the United States just pay interest on their debt.

The U.S. interest payment on its Debt is the second largest government payment; behind Social Security and well ahead of the Military.

How Much is 40 trillion U.S. Dollars?

Here is a visual. If you converted the Unites States National Debt into $100 dollar bills, and stacked them up, they would be 27,146 miles (or 44,000 Km) high.

A large debt is not good for individuals and not good for Provinces or Nations.

Writer Richard Dowson is a retired educator.

He is known for his frequenting local coffee shops and other places seniors gather.

In a previous life he wrote comedy for CHED in Edmonton.

His views may or may not reflect the views of this publication.