An Honest Answer Please

[Towntalk]

Many economic experts have in recent days stated that the United States is no longer the super economic power, and perhaps that is best for us since it should give Washington pause before they go passing out huge bags of money to foreign governments as if they are dipping into a well that has no bottom.
For too long the Congress has been quite generous with our money even as our national debt is on the trillions of dollars and growing every single minute. The government's current debt at about 10.2 trillion dollars.
Is there anyone here who could even envision that much money?
$10,000,000,000,000.00 to be exact. Who among us has that much cold hard cash laying around?
How many generations would it take to pay that kind of debt off?
Even if we brought foreign aid down to zero, that wouldn't even begin to scratch the surface.
Even if we stopped all earmark projects completely that wouldn't help for the very simple reason that like private debts, the interest keeps mounting up with every tick of the clock.
German finance minister, Peer Steinbruck boldly asserted, "The U.S. will lose its status as the superpower of the world financial system." That system, he said, would now become "multipolar."
Even as we see the bad news on the state of our economy, there are those who clamor for more spending on projects that we simply do not have the money for.
Where for example are we going to get the billions of dollars to invest in a new national grid powered by solar or wind?
Even if we were to pull out of both Iraq and Afghanistan tomorrow, we are so deeply in debt that we couldn't afford it.
Remember what I said, we are $10,000,000,000,000.00 in debt, and to add to the problem, the states are in no better shape.
Anthony Faiola, in the 10/10/08 Washington Post observed: "The worst financial crisis since the Great Depression is claiming another casualty: American-style capitalism."
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke: 'The housing market continues to be a primary source of weakness in the real economy as well as the financial markets,' he said. 'However the slowdown in economic activity has spread outside the housing sector. Private payrolls have continued to contract, and the declines in employment, together with earlier increases in food and energy prices, have eroded the purchasing power of households. Overall, the outlook for economic growth has worsened.'
What's the solution? Print up worthless paper? Gamble on pipedream projects that would take decades to complete, with no guarantee that they would even work?