Saturday 12 March 2011

100% Debt Vs GDP Vs Oil Spill Vs Does Any One Care?

By Richard J. Burns
The oil spill has taken all the press as of late. It's a crime that with all our technology and trillion-dollar navy, this country can't deal with an oil leak a mile below the water. That part of the world is a place of historical importance and true American beauty. How can it be worse to drill for oil above ground in an isolated area in Alaska?
All of these issues are important, but what's going to really hurt the economy isn't an oil leak. 100% debt vs GDP in 2015 may sound like an up important issue. Imagine for a moment you made $50,000 each year. Each year you borrowed $50,000 dollars. Your justification is that you need the money to increase you salary in the coming years.
In the past couple of weeks, I've been finding articles, mostly from Europe, on America looming debt/deficit crisis. Our oversees friends seem more involved in our financial well being than we do. Our media really is just a reflection of what America is interesting in watching and reading at a particular part of time.
Thus, the fiscal crisis doesn't have a live camera showing plumes of oil leaking into the gulf or dead birds washing up in thick crude oil. If you following the debt crisis as i have for the past year, the money begin spent and borrowed would amount to 50 oil leaks in every ocean and sea around the world.
Imagine for a moment a Satellite photo of earth. In one small area of the Gulf of Mexico, there's a black area of oil about the size of Connecticut - a horrible image for a beautiful part of the world. Then imagine that a country's debt could be visualized with red ink flowing across the land based on that country's debt. A country with 100% debt vs GDP would result in red ink flowing across 100% of that country's land.
The satellite image would show that almost all the land in the entire world would be covered in 100% red. Not only would most countries be red, they'd be dark red because their debt is beyond 100% GDP vs. Debt. The photo would show a world with blue water, except in one tiny blackened area of Gulf, with red inked land almost everywhere.
Does it matter?
Richard Burns is founder of http://www.CultureCatch.com and http://www.DeficitAid.com. He's a filmmaker with a passion for smart culture and a father with a passion for leaving the world a better place for his children.