From A Declaration Of Independence To A Nation of Dependence
Published 07/04/08 Economy In Crisis

July 4, 1776 – 232-years-ago – the founding fathers of the U.S. met in Independence Hall and signed a document declaring America’s independence from oppressive British rule. But today, America is again dependent, surviving on imports, debt and income from the sell-off of our best companies. While Americans this week celebrate our liberties, heritage and sacrifice of our soldiers, remember these important statistics that are eroding our independence.

The Balance of Trade deficit was $765 billion or $1,450,000 per minute in 2006 and used – not to buy U.S. Exports – but to purchase our core industries and means of production.

The U.S. national debt was $9.4 trillion as of July 2008. We are losing our means of productivity and our earnings capability through the sale of our companies: how will we ever pay off this debt?

With an estimated population of 304 million, each American owes $31,123.45 to repay this debt.

Ownership of the US Debt by other nations – loans to us – is astronomically high – and these countries can pull their holdings at any time, which could devastate the economy – facts from the U.S. treasury, current as of December 2007:

Japan $571.2 Billion
China $405.5 Billion
The U.K. $299.7 Billion
Oil Exporters $126.7 Billion

Since 1978, 15,397 U.S. companies have been sold. These companies were the means through which we created wealth and became a superpower.

America is a great nation – let’s keep it that way by giving these alarming figures the attention they deserve. E-mail this page to your friends and family and remind them we must put pressure on our government to stop our growing deficits, the exportation of entire industries and our overdependence on imports. It is time to declare our economic independence before America becomes completely dependent on other nations for its survival.


E-mail editor@economyincrisis.org