We’re about to reach a new milestone on the road to ruin: the national debt will soon pass the $12 trillion mark.  That’s a number that is hard to grok, so look at it this way: we’re rapidly approaching a debt of $40,000.00 for every man, woman, and child in the United States of America.

If you want to follow the action, the U. S. Treasury has a Web site which provides periodic reports on Debt to the Penny.  As of August 24, the tally was $11,719,060,925,865.86.  Exactly.  That’s nowhere close to fast enough for me, so I keep a national debt clock on my Web site home page.

But if you REALLY want to get exercised over this issue, I highly recommend that you periodically click on this link: U.S. Debt Clock Online. It’s like riding in an insane taxi with dozens of meters running.  You can watch in horror as the numbers click up on the U.S. National Debt, Estimated Medicare Fraud, Interest on Debt, U.S. Unfunded Liabilities, and many more.

I know, I know, the government was spending a greater percentage of GNP during WWII.  But that was wartime spending and included very little of the locked-in “entitlements” we have today.  Click on the graphic above for a preview of how badly entitlements are spinning out of control.