(Notes: How bad can the National Debt (ND) get?   Please compare the May 6, 2009 (GMT) National Debt Clock and Population Clock displayed here with the figures that you can display below for the date and time you are visiting this web site today.

Some visitors have commented on the previous tax creations.   They are right about how long the U.S. Government has promoted deficit spending and I am including some of their remarks in these notes as follows:

At the first of 2009, the National Debt was already at $9.7 trillion.   I think it has increased by about $2 trillion in the last four months.   If current trend continues, the ND may rise to $20 trillion by 2020.   Somewhere in the not too distant future if the trend continues, our country will not be able to pay the interest on that debt, and the monetary system will collapse.

What most Americans don't know or understand, the United States has been bankrupt since 1932.   When FDR took office in 1932, in his first speech before Congress, he stated that the nation was bankrupt.   Why?   He did so because the country was on the Gold Standard, and we were printing money for which we had no reserves.

In order to solve the problem, the first step was Executive Order 8109 which outlawed private ownership of bullion or coin in excess of $100.   Certain exceptions were made, but all other gold had to be sold to the Federal Reserve (which is a privately held banking system) at $20.67 per troy ounce.   In 1934, the 1933 Gold Act went into effect.   It inflated the value of our currency by changing the official price of gold to $35/ounce.   The act also mandated recalling all the Gold Certificate currency which was then replaced by Federal Reserve notes.   The New Deal (which actually started with the creation of the Federal Reserve in 1913) changed our entire financial system.   Now, all money supply increases are borrowed from the Federal Reserve.   Payments for the issuing of currency are made by the U.S. Government through redemptions of Federal Reserve Notes, issuing T Bonds, or paying in gold (from the reserves at Fort Knox).

As an added insult to injury, the U.S. Government made a one time offer in 1964 to redeemed all silver certificates with a packet of 1 ounce of silver for every dollar.

The last time the U.S. Gold Reserves were audited was during the Reagan Presidency.   The good news and bad:   1. Our gold is still in Fort Knox.   2. It is owned by the Federal Reserve and not by the taxpayer.   During the last 80 years, everything in the U.S. has been collateralized.   Our National Parks, public infrastructure, and even the real estate that you and I own.

Even with the information coming out about our nation's financial crisis, people don't know or understand that most of the world's banks are currently insolvent.   The world's spending has not been controlled by the size of the currency float.   In this country, the currency has been leveraged to as much as 30:1.   In the rest of the world, currency has been leverage to 60:1 or more.   But not all countries are broke.   China has become a creditor nation as they grow their exports of goods and services.   They have continued to accept our debt because of the volume of trade between the two countries.   They currently hold 44% of our world debt.

We are all to blame for the financial mess we are in.   The push to buy now and pay later is driving our nation into poverty. Bernie Madoff is a picture of our nation.   He lived a rich life on other people's money.   We as a nation have done the same thing since the 1970s.   Somewhere along the way, people have the idea that they can borrow and then default on their agreement to repay.   The defaults and resulting damage to credit flow reveal the fragility and weaknesses in our financial system.   As the credit balloon started collapsing, the Government is trying to use currency inflation to fill the void.   This is not solving the basic problem, but it is contributing to an accelerated decline.   Boomers are now retiring (or trying to retire) as their life's savings have been lost or drastically reduced.   Entitlement programs like Social Security, SSI, Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment, etc, will continue to draw down the standard of living as the remaining work force inherits the tax liabilities of previous generations.   End of Notes.)