This number dwarfs other big numbers that you will encounter if you start looking at government spending. 14.1 Trillion is the size our our current entire US economy.
Here's how 53 trillion breaks down. A million seconds is 12 days. A billion seconds is 32 years. A trillion seconds is 32,000 years. And 53 trillion seconds? 1.7 million years.
Glenn Beck calls this the 53 Trillion Dollar Asteroid. You can read his insightful analysis on the CNN website.
Remember, this number only represents Social Security and Medicare. This doesn't include spending for defense, education, judcial or any other function of government.
Our elected officials are out of control. Neither Democrats nor Republicans are willing to deal with the pain of living within our federal means. Here's a graph to show how the National Debt has grown over the past few decades:
US National Debt Compared With Gross Domestic Product
Want to see how fast this number is increasing? Here's an accurate clock that shows in real time, our debt being accumulated:
| National Debt Clock |
Who do we owe all this money to? A traditional defense of the national debt is that we "owe the debt to ourselves", but that is increasingly not true. The US debt in the hands of foreign governments is 25% of the total, virtually double the 1988 figure of 13%. The rest is owed to private banking interests - wealthy individuals who control the economy through the Federal Reserve (which is neither Federal, nor has reserves of precious metals to back up the money they have loaned out).
What does this mean to us? First of all, we need to really come to grips with the cancer that is literally consuming our national prosperity. We are becoming a debtor nation. Not only are we piling up unimaginable debt upon the shoulders of our children and grandchildren, we are literally handing over the title deed of our properties and businesses to powerful international banking interests.
I say it is time for a revolution. It is time to hold ourselves accountable at home and stop using credit to buy things that we cannot afford and do not need. It is time to get out of debt and start saving again. If we are unwilling to make these changes in our personal lives, how can we demand change from our elected officials.
It is also time to demand REAL change from our politicians. I do not see any hope in any of the candidates currently running for President. I say it is time to walk away from the two party system and find and support candidates that will become part of the solution and not perpetuate the problem. This is a government of the people, by the people and for the people. It is time for the people, (especially God's people) to rise up and demand change. If the people of God would unite and mobilize, we could take our nation back and stop the insanity. We should not longer support any candidate that is unwilling to take whatever steps necessary to balance the budget and cut spending. I'm no longer voting along party lines, nor should you.
To stop this insantiy will mean some pain and some sacrifice. If we are unwilling to make some changes now, we are only delaying what will surely be a catastrophe like this nation has never seen.
The time for the Kingdom is here. Let's take dominion and get our country back. Let's do it for the children.