TANNER EDUCATES COLLEAGUES ON NATIONAL DEBT

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Rep. John Tanner today sent a letter to other Members of Congress to help highlight what Tanner calls “the mortgaging of our country’s future.” The text of the letter follows:

Dear Colleague:

The Growing Debt Storm

The United States Treasury maintains the latest debt figures.

In a little more than four years, we have increased the privately held debt by $1.2 trillion.

It took the United States more than 200 years before it accumulated as much debt as we borrowed in the past 4 years.

To put this into context, we are borrowing at approximately the following rates:

$34 billion per month
$1.1 billion per day
$48 million per hour
$796,000 per minute
$13,300 per second

Net interest on the debt we owe totaled $160 billion last year, so we are spending at approximately the following rates:

$13 billion per month
$444 million per day
$18 million an hour
$308,000 a minute
$5,100 a second

You might wonder: what's the difference between a million, a billion and a trillion?

Million
A million hours ago was in 1891.
To count out 1 million nonstop without sleep or eating, it would take 2-1/2 weeks.

Billion

A billion seconds ago, Richard Nixon was President.
6.8 billion seconds ago, President George Washington was sworn into office.
A billion minutes ago was just after the time of Christ.
To count out 1 billion nonstop without sleep or eating, it would take 38-1/2 years.

Trillion
Most mathematicians do not even use the term trillion – mostly government uses it.

One trillion seconds ago – 31,688 years – Neanderthals walked the earth.

If you stack up one-thousand dollar bills, a million dollars would be about a foot high. A billion dollars would be about the size of the Empire State Building.  A trillion dollars would be 1,000 Empire State Buildings.

How much do we owe to foreigners?

Currently, foreign investors own approximately $2 trillion in U.S. bonds and notes. Furthermore, more than half of that amount is owned by foreign central banks.

We owe Japan $701.6 billion; China $247 billion; Caribbean Banking Centers $92.5 billion; Korea $67.7 billion; and OPEC nations $64.7 billion.

What are people saying about the U.S. Federal Debt?

[The United States] is now more dependant on foreign capital than it has been at any point in the past half-century.  In the past few months, the dollar has been falling against the euro, the yen and the pound.  A weakening dollar is a sign of waning demand for the U.S. currency, an indication that foreigners may be growing less enthusiastic about investing in the U.S.
--Wall Street Journal Europe, January 15, 2005

A former official at the People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank, and now an economist at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. in Hong Kong was recently quoted in The Washington Post as saying, “The U.S. dollar is now at the mercy of Asian governments.” (September 13, 2003)

How fast are we mortgaging our future?

In the time it takes to drive from the Memphis Airport to my hometown, Union City, Tennessee, the federal government has borrowed nearly $100 billion.

In the time it takes to watch the nightly news, we have borrowed $24 billion.

In the time is has taken for you to read this fact sheet, the government has borrowed more than $1 million.

Sincerely, 

John Tanner

# # #

Contact: Randy Ford, 202.225.4714