National debt is damaging

The Adirondack (N.Y.) Enterprise: Americans seem to have become numb to worry about our astronomical national debt, already at $17.5 trillion. So don’t expect much reaction to news President Barack Obama’s administration has underestimated how much the debt will grow.

During the next 10 years, the debt will grow by $6.6 trillion, to $24.1 trillion, the White House claims. But the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says the actual growth will be $1.6 trillion higher.

Think of the numbers this way: Every $1 trillion in debt amounts to about $3,125 for every man, woman and child in the United States. Obama’s $1.6 trillion underestimate equals approximately $5,000 per person.

By 2024, if the CBO is correct, the $25.7 trillion national debt will top $80,000 per person. That is well more than twice the total when Obama took office — and much of the 2024 debt will be due to policies Congress has approved at this president’s behest.

Already, the debt has affected our economy adversely. As the CBO has warned, the problem will grow worse.

So will the percentage of what we earn that goes to Washington. During the 2009 fiscal year, Obama’s first in office, federal revenue was 14.6 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product.