If one wanted to climb from Earth to the moon, one theoretical way to do it would be to stack seven columns of $1 bills side by side and then climb that column from here to there. Mind you, I am not pulling those figures out of thin air; they accurately represent the thickness and height of $30 trillion.
But if we figured that perhaps we might like a bit of a sturdier column to climb on, we could just wait a few more years till, say, 2029. By that time we could have a very sturdy column of three rows of seven stacks of those $1 bills to climb on, an 18- by 18-inch column of cash stretching from the Earth all the way to the surface of the moon.
And most of you have probably guessed by now that I am talking about the national debt, which currently stands at nearly $30 trillion and, by Forbes’ estimate, will be almost three times as much by 2029. (forbes.com/sites/mikepatton/2021/05/03/us-national-debt-expected-to-approach-89-trillion-by-2029/?sh=7ca4f1d35f13)
Houston, we have a problem indeed.
If I were to lay a $100 bill in front of a person and ask them how much it is worth, they would likely look at me as if I were stupid and say, “Uh, a hundred dollars. Duh.” But the actual material value of a $100 bill is around 12.3 cents. And herein lies the problem that many people are currently blissfully unaware of.