Federal Debt: How To Lose A Trillion Dollars.

Everyone knows that the federal deficit is a real and growing problem. It's so large, however — $12 trillion and spiking rapidly — that it can seem abstract. That's about to change. Serious consequences associated with deficit spending have long seemed like far-off problems, but they are now likely to hit the country with considerable force within the next several years. One is servicing the debt itself. Most people don't pay much attention to the interest payments the federal government makes every year. They haven't had to. Debt service has been manageable, thanks to low interest rates and consistent economic growth...Link

To prevent crisis, ‘global governance’ is needed.

Jean-Claude Trichet, the president of Europe's central bank, said to a recent meeting of the U.S.-based Council on Foreign Relations that in order to prevent another dramatic economic crisis, a new type of "global governance" must bring accounting practices on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean into sync with one another. "It is his belief that through global governance, the resiliency of the global financial system can be assured, noting that ultimately it was governments’ use of taxpayer’s money, equivalent to around 25% of GDP on both sides of the Atlantic, that prevented another catastrophic great depression from occurring," wrote Forbes reporter Mina Sanini, who captured the remarks...Link