National debt spikes to $31 trillion, but we can stop it before it nears the abyss
America Inc. has a deficit problem; no need to call it a crisis.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s latest report on how far into debt the U.S. is can now be summed up in one word: debt.
Total U.S. debt as a percentage of gross domestic product — GDP — hit $17.0 trillion in 2019, up 6.9 percent from 2018.
That is a big number, but not the kind of staggering number that might spark a crisis. You could call it a crisis, but it isn’t one.
It could also be called an economic and political crisis, but the latter has no real currency in the U.S. today.
In fact, all of the things that make America a unique country — its high economic value, exceptional cultural diversity, and the rule of law — are under attack from an emerging “corporate-government” axis.
It is one that believes that the system was made good enough in the past, so it is best that it become even better in the future.
And it is not all for our benefit, but the interest of those who fund the politicians and political parties, and the interest of those corporations and the big business lobby groups.
Corporations have no moral limits in the pursuit of profits, and a huge group of people who consider themselves taxpayers have no power to act as a check on corporations or to regulate the banks.
This is why the two major political parties are, in fact, part of the corporatist axis of power in Washington.
On the left, the Democratic Party and its left-wing version, the “Democratic Socialists of America,” want to radically redistribute income and wealth.
In so doing, they are following the playbook of Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator who announced his presidential run on January 21, is not running to “end” the income inequality at the top, but it has become an increasingly central theme — especially among those who oppose his policies such as Medicare for All and student debt forgiveness.
Many Sanders supporters believe that their political platform will help bring about the same changes in the system.
And their goal is not just national wealth redistribution, but �