For the 2008 fiscal year, the United States has allocated 261 billion dollars to pay for interest on our $9.6 trillion national debt - most of which is borrowed from China and Japan.  The $261 billion represents nine percent of the $2.9 trillion federal budget for 2008 alone.  These figures are astounding and deserve some consideration. 

About 300 million people live in the U.S.  That means your representatives have allocated $870 in spending per person this year to pay off a national debt that we are continuing to accrue by spending more than we have each year.  While I'm sure the Asian bankers are happy about this, I'd rather have my 870 bucks.  I'd even be willing to let the government keep my money so long as it was spent on something more beneficial to this country. 

Put another way, our annual budget for paying loan interest is:

• 5 times our spending on education;
• 122 times spending to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS in the U.S.
• 36 times the entire budget for the Environmental Protection Agency
• 7.5 times the entire budget for Homeland Security
• 116 million dollars more than the budget for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
  

This year, the federal deficit reached $239 billion, $4 billion less than last year's deficit.  How will the country pay for it? With our American Express card of course.  It's ok though, we'll just pay a little more loan interest with your hard earned dollars next year to sustain the current deficit. 

It's no wonder there's a housing loan crisis in this country: we are a nation drunk on debt! While I can understand how non-native English speakers purchasing their first home might get confused during the loan process and end up in trouble, I expect a little more from our nation's leaders.  

From 1998-2001, Congress maintained a budget surplus that chipped away at the national debt each year.  And as every homeowner knows, the more you pay in principal, the less you pay in interest later.  On a federal level, if we started paying off our debt instead of adding to it, more money would be free for the programs we need or for tax relief - whatever your pleasure. 

For the past seven years, Congress has spent more than it had to give, eliminating any surplus and racking up over $3 trillion more in debt.  And while the annual deficit amount has been decreasing slightly each year since 2004, the national debt and interest cost is continually amassing.  Is it the system that is failing or our leadership?