Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth.

For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street.

The national debt of the United States government is rapidly closing in on $37 trillion.

Given that the nominal U.S. GDP is only $29 trillion, we owe significantly more than our economy produces.

Just the interest payment on the debt is now the third highest line item expense in the budget,

just after Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, and just ahead of defense.

It even surpasses our total federal tax revenue.

In addition to the federal government, state and local debt

amounts to another $3.2 trillion, and total credit card debt is currently over $1.28 trillion. In all,

the total indebtedness of the United States public and private sits at nearly $105 trillion,

though it's increasingly obvious that our national debt will never be repaid,

the deficit continues to grow at an alarming rate.

These numbers are simply too big to even understand.

To put it in perspective,

one trillion seconds is 31,688 years. So our debt is now 100 times that number. To put it mildly,

this bodes ill for our future. Out of controlled debt has been a significant factor in the collapse

of every major world power in human history. For example, the French Revolution was partially

triggered by a fiscal crisis,

which sparked civil war and left between 300 and 500,000 dead, not including those who were

killed abroad in foreign wars. With apologies here to Dave Ramsey, there are a few times when a certain

amount of debt can make sense. Businesses can use debt to launch and expand.

People can take on debt to buy a home or in emergencies.

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