Interest payments on the national debt were $475 billion in fiscal year 2022
Every responsible intelligent person knows the best financial policy is to be debt free.
We know that's not easy but remaining as debt free as possible is a good first step..
The only large personal debt we ever incurred was our home mortgage.
Once we saved enough to buy a home large down payments were required and interest rates were high (9.5%).
We took a 15 year mortgage, made some advance lump sum payments and doubled down on monthly payments as much as possible
By scrimping and doing without we were able to pay the loan off in a little less than 11 years.
Once we owned our home free and clear it made a big and positive impact on our finances.
Keeping the money that would have gone to pay interest is like giving yourself a fat pay raise.
Since then we have stayed out of debt.
We do use a credit card to make almost all purchases but pay it off every month and pay no credit card interest at all - ever.
Plus we get money back - it is a small percentage of our purchases but once again - it is like a pay raise for being financially responsible.
So - if everyday people (like us Freepers) know the wisdom of not throwing away wealth by paying avoidable interest
WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH OUR GOVERNMENT?
Millionaires in Washington borrow trillions of dollars to throw around the world and to finance unnecessary expenditures.
They incur avoidable debt that saps billions of dollars of taxpayer money to pay as interest to other millionaires.
Then they pat themselves on the back and compliment each other on their virtue and generosity.
Right now the federal government is spending about $7 million dollars a minute!!!!!
Republicans control the House of Representatives that (supposedly) controls the "nations purse strings".
But most seem to have abandoned the traditional republican principles of small government and balanced budgets.
Instead they have jumped on the band wagon with democrats and throw billions of dollars around like parade confetti.
They don't even speak out when the president unilaterally decides to hand out billions of dollars that was not budgeted by congress.
And no matter how we vote the debt keeps going up and up at an ever faster rate.
Right now the national debt is about $33.5 TRILION DOLLARS!
And it is currently growing by about $2 Trillion dollars a year!
Awesome post, IM!
I was nervous around 2008-9 when I thought our debt was unsustainable. Meaning the county’s. Like you, we scrimped and saved and saved up money for purchases instead of going in debt. Worked on paying both the house and the rental off in 10 years. And only then did we move up to a bigger house, one that we could easily afford. While most of my friends started off with the huge house and crushing debt.
I thought that sacrificing was good enough for us, then the country should be willing to pay off its debt as well. Now it’s so much I think it is unavoidable that we will have hyperinflation to make the debt cheaper.
In 2009 I got food storage, ammo storage, lol, water filters, whatever else we might need, adding to it while rotating. So I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.