$12,126,565,367,430

The number above is the national debt of the United States (at 11:30am on 12/16). You hear this number all the time on the news, but how often do you think about the magnitude of $12 trillion. The number becomes extremely daunting if you put things in perspective:

• The estimated population of the United States is 308,000,000 – so each citizen’s share of this debt is $39,371.96.
• Twelve trillion dollars could cover 46 thousand square miles – about the area of Pennsylvania.
• Twelve trillion $1000 bills would form a massive stack that would extend to the moon and back 3 times.
• About 12 million mortgages could be paid off with $12 trillion. (The average mortgage is around $140,000).
• Bill Gates’ total wealth in 2009 was about $50 billion. Twelve trillion dollars is 240 times that amount.

And yet, we continue to spend money like its no big deal; as the dollar plummets in worth. Its time we let Congress and the President know that excessive spending needs to stop. We cannot continue to fund a war that costs us $1 billion a day or to give the banksters $700 billion in bailout money. And we can certainly not afford to pass a health care bill that will add $3 trillion to our national debt. Please contact your local representatives and express your concern about the deficit. Otherwise, the government will carry on the egregious spending at the expense of the taxpayer and U.S. dollar.

An excellent resource to keep an eye on our national debt is usdebtclock.org – it provides real-time data and a detailed breakdown of the situation.