You think you owe a lot on your credit card, mortgage or student loans?   That’s nothing compared to the $510,678 every single American will have to pay in order to pay off the national liabilities our nation owes.

The National Debt is just one piece of the puzzle, add in Medicare, Social Security, Government retirement benefits etc.  plus interest, it comes to over a half millioin dollars, and it grows by around $25,000 a year.

Here’s a breakdown from USA Today:

Taxpayers are responsible for more than $500,000 per household for unfunded financial promises made by federal, state and local governments. How the debt breaks down:

Program	Liability per household
Medicare	$263,377
Social Security	$133,456
Federal debt	$42,538
Military retirement benefits	$25,443
State-local debt	$16,395
Federal employee retirement benefits	$14,256
State-local retirement benefits	$13,257
Other federal	$1,956
Total	$510,678

So there you have it, enjoy the nice bill.

This is what happens when you live in a culture of debt, where everyone is trying to get something for nothing.  From the Lottery, to Las Vegas, from Credit Cards to Car Loans, from Home Equity Loans to Treasury Bills.  Look around you, everything you see, your new SUV, your lovely 2400 square foot suburban tract home, the $2,000 HDTV in the living room, the highway you drive on to work, it’s all possible because of debt.

We have a national house of cards, an economy, that’s all based upon the ability to continually put off paying the piper into some distant future, lubricated by cheap and abundant oil (even at $3.50 a gallon it’s cheap, just wait), and unbridled optimism that we can always borrow more, and there will always be some sucker willing to pay even more than you did for your $875,000 1400 square foot Condo.

Meanwhile no one really cares.  A $5 Trillion dollar national debt, to most Americans, is a meaningless number; it means nothing to the daily lives of average Americans.  Yet, the day is coming when the bills will be due, like a blind man we walk towards the cliff totally unaware of the tragedy that awaits us.

Until the cliff comes, I’m sure we’ll continue to buy our over-priced homes, tech-gadget gizmodo’s, trips to Aruba, and gas guzzling vehicles right up until the very end.  I know I will, how about you?