Ownership Society....

So, lately I've been thinking about our national debt.

Maybe because it's textbook buyback season, and it's humbling to be surrounded by so much cash and so many who need it so badly. Maybe because I'm tired of people telling me that things like discrimination (whether it be on the floor of the Senate or on the steps of the San Francisco County Courthouse), censorship and whom gets appointed as America's chief diplomat don't affect them.

Or maybe it's just because of this.

Here's the thing: the national debt, you realize, is rising at the staggering rate of eight thousand dollars per second. That is not a typo: eight thousand dollars per second.

Now, as you probably already know, at this moment all of the taxes west of the Mississippi River go exclusively toward paying the interest on the national debt. But... if the debt continues to escalate at this rate -and given the inflation on current interest rates- by the year 2020 all of the taxpayers west of the Amtrak corridor will be paying off the interest on the national debt.

This, of course, means that everyone east of this corridor is then responsible for... how should I put it? Everything else. Things like, ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh... defense, social services, foreign aid, the drug war, the space program, and last but not least, paying off the principle on the debt.

So who's footing this bill?

Well, a hunk of Maine. Atlantic City, sure. A bunch of folks on the Florida Coast. Half of Boston (Hi Paul!), and a chunk of New York City.

So, denizens of the East? Adjusting for population and inflation, by the year 2020 every citizen of New York would have to be pulling in an annual gross income of about thirty-two million dollars just to contribute his or her fair share.

All youse Right Coasters? You might wanna' put off buying that West Wing: Season Four DVD set....