The U.S. national debt just hit $21 trillion.  It received a few headlines.  Surprisingly, it seemed to receive almost as many headlines as it did when it surpassed the $20 trillion mark, which was an even more round number.

I don’t remember any headlines when the national debt surpassed $19 trillion, but that was still when Obama was president.  The anti-Trump establishment media is more than happy to point out the rising national debt under Trump and the Republican Congress, as if the recent cut in corporate tax rates is somehow to blame.  Of course, I am glad when any media outlet points out the astronomical debt, but I wish they would do it for other reasons than just trying to blame Trump.

To be sure, the national debt is bipartisan, and it has been for a long time.  The national debt first surpassed the $1 trillion mark under Reagan.  And despite Reagan’s reputation as a fiscal conservative, the deficits under his watch really were unprecedented for that time.  And tax cuts under Reagan cannot be blamed for the ballooning national debt.  There were also tax hikes under Reagan.  And more importantly, federal tax collections ended up rising significantly after the multiple recessions of the early 1980s.  It’s just that federal spending went up at a greater pace than did tax collections.

Over the last 35 years, the Clinton years of were the least harmful in terms of deficits.  Whether you want to credit this to Bill Clinton or the Republican Congress, that is not the point here.  It was during a relative boom time, and some of that was an artificial boom due to a relatively loose monetary policy from the Greenspan Fed.  When tax collections are booming (especially from the tech stock bubble), it makes it easier to reduce the deficits.

But even under Clinton, the national debt went up significantly.  Even when the budget was supposedly balanced, they were borrowing money from the Social Security “trust” fund in order to cover the difference.  Therefore, although things were relatively better during the late 1990s, there were many factors that were in play, and the national debt was still going up, even if more slowly.  If you look at the numbers by year at this site, the national debt went up every year under Clinton.

Now we are at a point where almost nobody cares.  The American people will say they care if polled, but they don’t really care.  It is like somebody who says they want to be a millionaire, but who sits on the couch all day watching television.  He may want to become a millionaire, but he is not willing to prioritize that in his life.  The American people might like to see a reduction in the national debt, or at least a balanced budget, but they aren’t willing to give up their favorite federal programs.

This is why the issue is bipartisan.  There is no true opposition to the national debt, other than from libertarians.  And libertarians take the position (correctly) that the budget should only be balanced if it is because of spending reductions.  We don’t want a balanced budget from additional taxes.

According to this site, the national debt per citizen is $64,249.  The debt per taxpayer is over $173,500.  By the time you read this and click on the link, it will probably be higher.  I know the national debt will be higher.

Of course, $21 trillion is not the true national debt.  Part of this debt is money that the government owes to itself, which it subsequently owes to the welfare state.  For example, part of the national debt is money that is owed to the Social Security trust fund.

The problem here is that the Social Security trust fund, even if you count the IOUs, doesn’t have near enough money to satisfy its future obligations, if we define obligations as what has been promised by politicians.

The total unfunded liabilities, most of which is accounted for by Medicare and Social Security, exceed well over $100 trillion.  Some estimates have put them over $200 trillion.  This is a ridiculous number (not because it isn’t true) that is hard to comprehend.  Therefore, almost everyone just ignores it.

Think of a family that earns $70,000 per year.  They have credit card debt and student loan debt totaling $200,000.  They can barely stay above water just making the minimum payments.

To this family, would it make a difference if their total debt were $150,000 instead of $200,000?  Would it make a difference if it were $220,000?

Of course, we know there is a difference.  But the only difference to this family would be the amount of interest they owe each month.  They have little hope of actually paying off the debt unless they win the lottery.  They could buckle down, create a budget, and live very frugally for several years.  But that is painful, and it takes future orientation.  You would not only have to look beyond tomorrow, but even beyond the next couple of years.

It gets even worse when talking about debt from the U.S. government because that is nobody’s responsibility.  Everyone figures that it is everyone else’s problem.

At some point, there has to be a set of losers in this game.  Even an outright default would mean major losses for bondholders.  When it comes to Social Security and Medicare, default means less money flowing to the senior population.

There will be some form of default when it comes to Medicare and Social Security.  It is guaranteed.  It is not just a matter of politics, but a matter of math at this point.

This doesn’t mean that Social Security checks will stop arriving in the mail.  It will be a series of mini defaults.  The paychecks will be worth less due to a depreciating dollar.  This already happens, but I expect it to happen at a greater pace eventually.

The biggest part of the default will come in the form of raising the age that people are eligible to collect on their so-called benefits.  They will probably start by raising the age to 70.  It will likely eventually be raised to 75.  For someone under the age of 50, it is almost guaranteed that the age will be higher than what is currently listed.

The sooner this run up in debt stops, the better off most of us will be.  We aren’t just piling on debt for future generations.  We are hurting ourselves now.  If the government were forced to balance the budget by drastically cutting spending, then it would mean more resources being directed in accordance with consumer demand instead of being directed by politicians and bureaucrats.  Even if it were painful initially, our living standards would ultimately benefit.

The ballooning national debt is a representation of our government and central bank going out of control.  We all pay the price in the form of lower living standards, except the tiny few who are direct beneficiaries of the corrupt system.