The expanded version of the Heritage Budget Chart Book contains 42 graphics that portray Washington’s unprecedented levels of spending, deficits and debt.
Pictures of America’s Fiscal Nightmare
By Heritage Foundation Mike Brownfield——Bio and Archives--June 21, 2011
There’s urgency in Washington to fix a problem that’s been a long time coming: America’s fast track to fiscal implosion. In The Heritage Foundation’s just-released, expanded 2011 Budget Chart Book, you can see just how bad the country’s spending problem is and how America racked up so much debt.
Congress is coming to grips with the need to enact reform, in part because there’s a new breed of Tea Party conservatives making their voices heard on Capitol Hill and also because the government has reached the legal limit on how much it can borrow. The Washington Post reports this morning that it’s crunch time in Washington, with legislators and the White House working to find a way to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget by 2021.
Now is indeed the time for them to take action. In roughly 20 years, the typical American’s share of the national debt will more than triple unless Washington gets the nation’s fiscal house in order. Right now, the national debt averages $31,871 for each American—nearly two-thirds of the median household income of $50,255. The Heritage Budget Chart Book illustrates that without any real spending cuts or reforms, debt will surge to $103,827 per American by 2032 and keep rising.
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