In the year 2000, I had the great fortune to spend a week on Capitol Hill for a seminar to learn about the federal government and legislative process. The big news we heard discussed was what should the U.S. do with the annual budget surplus? Here is an interesting summary of what happened to the surplus.

See what Paul Krugman (2008 Nobel Prize for Economics) said in 2011 about fiscal irresponsibility and deficit spending as well as many of his poignant current blog posts. He cites the Bush tax cuts, wars, and the recession for our budget deficit problems.

I felt surprised in 2000 that many in Congress were not happy with the budget surplus and more comfortable with the government being in debt. Did they forget what happened in Japan in the 1990's? These factors are still observable today on the World Debt Clock.

Checkout the public debt to Gross Domestic Product ratio (Debt/GDP). This is basically looking at how much is being spent compared to earned by each country. The U.S. is at 71%, China 23%, Japan 256%, Germany 62%, and Russia 24%. Based on these numbers it appears that the strongest economies have the lowest percentages including China and Russia. The huge public debt for Japan is still very concerning. It is amazing to see that the US debt is outpacing GDP while in China they are far ahead in making much more in GDP than they owe.

The U.S. Debt Clock indicates that on average the federal budget deficit is growing at the rate of about $7,500 per minute! This is the difference between money spent by Congress and received through taxes. The total U.S. debt is approaching $20 trillion and growing at $6 trillion per year. Since the year 2000, the federal government increased spending by 118%!

There are various opinions about fiscal sustainability and debt. Some say it's healthy to maintain debt at low levels (see this May 2016 article in theweek).

As I've previously blogged about my upbringing by parents who grew up during the 1930's depression, we've always wanted to save more than to owe the banks! I wonder by analogy if countries that hold U.S. Treasury bonds, including China and Russia, can influence on our economy and standard of living?