Forget about Math for a minute; let's talk about debt...Part 1 (as there's so much...)

It's what's showing: Everywhere you look, every time you listen, each time you turn around, the topic of debt keeps showing up...articles regarding the U.S. debt, who we owe, who owes us, swirl all around us. The concept of debt, of course, has been with us since we ourselves were invented, such as in "who do we owe for being here (for better or worse)...we are indebted to all those who have been looking out for us...",  as well as the more practical.. "It would now take 398,879,561 years for US, U.S. to pay off the public debt. It has even become one of the main themes of a Netflix series, one in which down-and-out debtors sign up to participate in dangerous games in which they can either rid themselves of debt, get filthy rich, or literally lose themselves, by participating in life or death versions of childhood games, 're-envisioned'. The ratings apparently reflect both the interest in debt ('debt interest'😁), as well as the inner child in all of us! BTW, what happens when you take this popular series and cross it with the expectation of reciprocity in the form of a gizmo that will probably be popular once again this Christmas (depending on supply chain)? A "Quid Go Pro" of course😁! 

It's Personal: As in "This is a debt I could never repay you; you've taken such incredible care of me while I was in the hospital despite not knowing me prior to this...You owe me!...I'm gonna' re-pay you, when the opportunity presents itself..." The latter with both literal and figurative translations abound, the former represented by J. Wellington Wimpy, one of my favorite characters from the "Thimble Theatre" comic strip featuring Popeye--Wimpy, a consummate hamburger moocher who lacked the intention of ever paying the giver back (sound familiar, think D.C., not DC comics), whereas the latter around these parts was depicted a few years later who, while taking a cheap hit in the corner during a hockey game, would simply gaze at the number on the jersey, with the intent of 'paying back' at some later time, perhaps when the giver here least expected it, but in this case knew it was a certainty, only a matter of time, that "Mr. Hockey" (aka Gordy Howe) would repay the debt. Speaking of which...

It's National, Globalized: As in "We're all in this together" Actually, not. While SO much debt has accumulated over the years and literally hundreds of thousands of dollars has been put on our national debt load in the last few minutes since I started writing this, it's not evenly distributed within or among nations. It's also become so abstract, due in part to the mind boggling amounts, that it amounts to a 'thing' we've lost touch with, way different than our household debt or that we may owe the U.S. government in the form of other letters, IRS, an amount which we are reminded of early and often, if we end up owing any given year--Why Oh Why, won't they let me kick the can down the road like our leaders do...?!  Our government, of course, started indulging in debt early and often since the inception of our great nation, and eventually found itself in financial relationships with other nations that we might now call interesting or curious bed fellows...such as US and China, due in no small part to the fact that 'they' (1.41 billion of them) are holding about 1.1 trillion of the U.S. national debt. And 'owing' to the fact that the Chinese government itself brought the world's attention to the "population crisis" there, this time interpreted as "falling birth rates" which for them translates as not enough workers to make goods to export, and for US as fewer hands to hold our debt...so at least indirectly we/US have a vested interest in their growth, as much as they have interest in the "interest" on our debt. Enough already, as in...

Enough for All, Plenty to go Around: as in (2021 estimates, all) 27.75 trillion dollars of national debt divided by 333 million Americans, equals 83,333 dollars for you...DEBT that is😢. If you are feeling stingy, parsimonious, miserly, and only willing to kick in for the interest on the debt (projected to be 413 billion for the current year), that works out to be 1240 dollars, 24 cents😌. On the other hand, by comparison, assuming an ambience of geniality at any given moment, the amount of (our) debt that each Chinese citizen is currently carrying is about 780.14 in U.S. dollars😐. Finally, the length of a billion dollar bills laid end-to-end would measure 96,900 miles, which would take you around the world almost four times, or about a third of the way to the moon, almost to the point of Oblivion😖! Now we're talking real money, real DEBT. If you don't believe it, you do the math😕!

Personal-ity: We psychologists say we can tell a lot about an individual's as well as a society's collective personality, core character, as reflected by how they manage precious resources, such as money. As well as their willingness to overspend, spend what they don't have, put off paying off. Considering the foregoing figures, what do you think all of this tells about you, me, U.S.?  

Part 2: As in "it takes two, a two-way street, strings attached"