Our National Debt: Are We Becoming a Global Credit Risk?

I received this email from Intercessors for America. It is a very sobering, thought provoking and prayer provoking reminder of one of the forces that is at work threatening our national sovereignty and our very existence. Please read and pray for America!

(I have found that IFA has many incredibly relevant articles about the pressing issues we face as a nation. Please visit that site at least once a week!)

"GOING TO WAR IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN ON BORROWED MONEY IS THE U.S. BECOMING A GLOBAL CREDIT RISK?

The Iraq-Afghanistan war is costing the U.S. $12 billion a month." . . . sound national finances have proved to be indispensable to the country's military strength" and long-term national security.

America's long tradition of war financing began with Alexander Hamilton: In January 1790, Hamilton, by then the country's Treasury secretary, confronted the American people with a stark fact: the nation had run up a huge debt fighting the Revolutionary War. This debt, he wrote, was the 'price of liberty,' and the new government had to repay it. At the writing of the Constitution the Founders were concerned about debt incurred to finance the Revolutionary War, and it was their intention to promptly pay it off. Alexander Hamilton (federalist paper #7) called for the "extinguishment of all debt." Thomas Jefferson later wrote, "I place economy among the first and most important of republican virtues, and public debt as the greatest of dangers to be feared." Hamilton's principles have kept America's credit strong through every war since the Revolution . . . until the Iraq War. Since then, "although U.S. leaders have warned that the war against terrorism could last for decades, the country lacks a multi-decade financial strategy to address the challenge." (Econ browser image) Iraq tossed the lessons of history out the window. "The country is pursuing a pre-9/11 fiscal policy in a post-9/11 world." Robert Hormats, (vice chairman of Goldman Sachs, author of the book, "The Price of Liberty: Paying for America's Wars") says that despite the oft-repeated remark that 9/11 "changed everything, in the area of fiscal policy, however, it changed nothing. The country is pursuing a pre-9/11 fiscal policy in a post-9/11 world." That assessment comes from someone who worked inside Washington for over a decade before joining Goldman Sachs in the 1980s.

This week, we had a new estimate that the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq ultimately may cost the American taxpayer a whopping $2.7 trillion, all of it added onto a national debt that already tops $9 trillion. (Salt Lake Tribune, 10/25/07)

The truth is, America desperately needs a new "Hamilton" who understands that in calculating "the price of liberty," not only do deficits matter. Americans must have a plan to repay our debts . . . if we want a strong credit rating that insures our national security for future generations.

WHO OWNS THE U.S. NATIONAL DEBT?
As of June 2007, the biggest holder of Treasury debt was the U.S. government itself, with about 52 percent of the total $8.5 trillion in paper that's out there. (Now $9 Trillion) That's leaves a little over $4 trillion in public hands. The biggest chunk (about 25 percent of the $8.5 trillion total) is held by foreign governments. (MSNBC, Grandfather Economic Report, FederalBudget.com, ZFacts.com, NationalPriorities.org, Marketwatch.com)

The United States national debt is owned by:
Japan - $644 billion
China - $350 billion
United Kingdom - $239 billion
Oil exporting countries - $100 billion
U.S. state and local governments - $467 billion
Individual investors, including brokers - $423 billion
Public and private pension funds - $319 billion
Mutual funds - $243 billion
Holders of US savings bonds - $206 billion
Insurance companies - $166 billion
Banks and credit unions - $117 billion

Go to the IFA website to read these related articles:
Is the U.S. Becoming a Global Credit Risk?
War Costs May Total $2.4 Trillion in Borrowed Money
US CBO Estimates $2.4 Trillion Long-term War Costs
Iraq War's Creeping Costs
Bush and Dems Arm wrestle Over Iraq War Money

View clocks demonstrating the accumulating national debt and the price of addiction to foreign oil - see bottom left of the home page www.ifapray.org "

Shalom, dear ones, pray and do not despair, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords is our Brother~~~~