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death by a thousand slices
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<p>[quote user="schlimm"]</p> <p> </p> <div class="quote-header"> <div class="quote-user">Sam1</div> </div> <blockquote class="quote"> <div class="quote-content">Where will the money come from, especially for a nation with a governmental debt burden of 119 per cent of GDP?</div> </blockquote> <div class="quote-footer">According to GAO's affirmation of the Bureau of Fiscal Service's figures, in 2014 National Debt was $17.810, which was 103.2% of GDP. [/quote]</div> <p>My reference was to governmental debt, which includes federal, state, and local debt. Ultimately, for the most part, although there are some potential exceptions, the entire debt burden has to be serviced by the taxpayers. </p> <p>Passenger rail has depended on a heavy infusion of government monies, i.e. federal, state, and local, for operations and capital investment. This is likely to continue. </p> <p>A heavy debt burden is a constraint on the capacity of government to fund capital investment, i.e. high speed passenger rail, waterway improvements, etc. </p> <p>According to the Federal Reserve, at the end of the 3rd Qtr 2014 (latest numbers), state and local debt was approximately $2.9 trillion. At the end of January 2015 or thereabouts, according to the Treasury Department, the federal debt was approximately $18.1 trillion. The two sum to $21 trillion. </p> <p>The reporting dates for the two categories are different. The U.S. Treasury reports the federal debt on a nearly daily basis; the Federal Reserve reports the state and local debt quarterly. </p> <p>At the end of December 2014, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the current dollar GDP of the U.S. was $17.7 trillion. Total governmental debt divided by GDP is approximately 119 per cent.</p> <p>Federal debt consists of two components: public debt and intra-governmental debt. The federal debt is approximately 102 per cent of GDP, as per the numbers in my spreadsheet. Public debt is approximately 74 per cent of GDP.</p>
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