I owe $30K and so do you

Posted by Jan Frel at 12:00 AM on March 17, 2006.

A post from the Pensito Review has me wondering about the extent to which the national debt is also my debt. I don't feel like it is. The latest tally has each American owing roughly $30k. But if our politicians openly concede that they can't relate to these staggering figures, then why should I? "It’s hard to understand what a trillion is. I don’t know what it is," confessed Senate Budget Committee Chairman Judd Gregg.

On another note, are these $3 trillion in debt extensions we've seen in Bush's five years of office something we should blame on Republicans, or the political class in Washington?

Opined commenter Bill Arnett on the Pensito Review "I have been watching the budgetary rape and pillaging of America on C-Span 2 for the last couple of days, and do you know what has been the biggest concern expressed by Senator Kent Conrad? He has several times openly bitched about the number of amendments offered, that they might have to work late because of them, and, horror of all horrors, if it keeps up they might have to work both Friday and Saturday! I sent him a email telling him that I doubt very much if those families with two or more members working full-time and still can’t break through poverty level really give a shit that, oh! boohoo! Kent Conrad, highly paid senator with per diem and other perks too numerous to mention might have to work on a Friday or Saturday! Just what kind of assholes are we Democrats, the Champions of the People, becoming when the good Senator’s time off is more important than working on this brutally pernicious budget? What a f*cking jerk."

Jan Frel is an AlterNet staff writer.