US Federal Debt of $53 Trillion?

Question

I need an experts opinion on this:

Why do you think the U.S federal government has fallen under such a 'huge' debt? I am from Pakistan and my country's debt is around USD 45 billion (cos of the fact that we have accepted too much 'aid' from World Bank and IMF). But I don't understand why a super power country, such as the U.S, is under debt. Is it because of US Federal Reserve policies? Has it something to do the with the fall in mortgage market?

A detailed answer would be highly appreciated.

Answer 1

The U.S. Federal Debt is a shade under $10T, not $53T. (http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/ )  Only about half of that $10T is public debt, i.e. owned by the public. The rest is interagency with the majority of that being held by the Social Security Trust fund.

Still horrendous once you start to get into the T's.

In terms of countries with the highest ratio of debt to GNP, the U.S ranks 32nd and Pakistan ranks 24th in 2005. (

http://www.photius.com/rankings/economy/... )

The reason for the debt is simple: congress continually passing budgets with deficit. The current adminstration has even been quoted that "deficits don't matter". The mentality is that budget deficits don't matter to the current elected officials; it will be future elected officials that have to deal with it. The new congress is planning to let the Bush tax cuts lapse which should make a big difference in the defiicit but there are still huge problems. The Federal Reserve is not involved in the budget process

Answer 2

From what I understand, World bank does this so that they essentially own countries and can be the dominant world power over any government or millitary.

Answer 3

Its because we import more then we export.

We are in debt to many countries because we are trying to keep up with the latest trends.

The economy is in a state of decline because of these imports.

Everything we use is basically manufactured in other countries if we used our own materials we'd be better off.

Answer 4

The USA has not been out of debt since Andrew Jackson was president. The FED doesn't care about our debt, they just print more money. Did you cash a stimulus check...we borrowed that money from China.