Wealthy countries all over the world are dealing with debts and strained budgets as they mop up after the Great Recession and brace for the budget-busting retirement of the baby boomer generation.
But the United States is in a bigger fix than almost anyone else.
The U.S. federal debt was equal to 95 percent of the overall economy in the first three months of 2011, the fifth-highest on the Associated Press Global Economy Tracker, an analysis of economic and financial data from 30 of the biggest economies.
Every year that the U.S. government spends more than it collects in taxes, it records an annual budget deficit. The $14.3 trillion debt is the sum of all annual deficits and surpluses.
As U.S. policymakers argue over raising the federal borrowing limit and slashing debts, America is hobbled in ways the others are not. Tax collections are low by historical and international standards. Health care costs are astronomical and still rising. The political system is gridlocked.
Those problems suggest the current impasse over raising the U.S. government's borrowing limit and cutting the deficit is a prelude to even more intense political combat.
"We as a society will either have to pay more for our government, accept less in government services and benefits, or both," says Douglas Elmendorf, director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. "For many people, none of those choices is appealing but they cannot be avoided for very long."
Low taxes, high health costs make US choices tough
But the United States is in a bigger fix than almost anyone else.
The U.S. federal debt was equal to 95 percent of the overall economy in the first three months of 2011, the fifth-highest on the Associated Press Global Economy Tracker, an analysis of economic and financial data from 30 of the biggest economies.
Every year that the U.S. government spends more than it collects in taxes, it records an annual budget deficit. The $14.3 trillion debt is the sum of all annual deficits and surpluses.
As U.S. policymakers argue over raising the federal borrowing limit and slashing debts, America is hobbled in ways the others are not. Tax collections are low by historical and international standards. Health care costs are astronomical and still rising. The political system is gridlocked.
Those problems suggest the current impasse over raising the U.S. government's borrowing limit and cutting the deficit is a prelude to even more intense political combat.
"We as a society will either have to pay more for our government, accept less in government services and benefits, or both," says Douglas Elmendorf, director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. "For many people, none of those choices is appealing but they cannot be avoided for very long."
Low taxes, high health costs make US choices tough