The White House projects a record budget deficit of $1.645 trillion in 2011. They hope for it to be reduced to $1.101 trillion in 2012, $768 billion in 2013, $645 billion in 2014, and a low of $607 billion in 2015, before it will rise to $774 billion in 2021.
America spends more on defense than the six other wealthiest countries combined: around $750 billion a year. In 2011, the total cost of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and other entitlement programs will total $2.2 trillion. Add to that the projected $205 billion in interest payments on the national debt, and there will be a budget deficit of $235 billion, not including any of the $891 billion for security and the $496 billion in non-security discretionary spending.
Social Security will pay out $56 billion more than it takes in this year, and the problem will only get worse as the Baby Boomers begin to retire. Price inflation in the U.S. is already above 5%, and gasoline prices recently hit a 28-month high. Unemployment rates have jumped to 22%, after accounting for both short- and long-term workers. According to Gallup, more than 4 million Americans have been unemployed more than one year. Over 1 million American families will be foreclosed on this year.
Student loan debt is now more than $890 billion. Where there were once four to five million job openings, today there are only around three million. The average household debt in America is now at 136% of an average household income.
The landscape of the country is also changing. Around 760 of the country's 3,142 counties are fading away, from the industrial areas around Pittsburgh and Cleveland, to the vineyards near San Francisco, to the rural areas of the Great Plains and east Texas.
In 2011, the total cost of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other entitlement programs will total $2.2 trillion. Since 1983, Americans have paid far more taxes than Social Security needed to pay benefits. In theory, the trust fund contains about $2.6 trillion, which would keep the program running until about 2037.
The current national debt ceiling is $14.3 trillion. The federal payroll has been cut by getting rid of several departments and agencies. As far as the cost of food, the price of wheat went up an astounding 114% and corn has increased by 88%.
China has become a fast-growing economic powerhouse and the United States' largest competitor. From the Arabian Sea to the Pacific, countries are worried about China’s growing military and economy. Their military has modernized, and they've shown great assertiveness in space, cyberspace, the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea, and the South China Sea. They spent a total of $78 billion on defense in 2010, which was up from $17 billion in 2001, according to their government. Defense officials in the West say that doesn't include arms imports. The U.S. Defense Department estimated China's total defense spending to be $150 billion in 2009.
Over the past decade, China has spent about $150 billion on new weapons. On January 11, their new J-20 stealth fighter jet, rival to the U.S. F-22, made its first test flight.
China has deployed powerful new military capabilities recently. This includes modern ships, submarines, fighter aircraft, and missiles. They even have a missile specifically designed to attack U.S. aircraft carriers. They are also enhancing command, control, communications, surveillance, intelligence, and reconnaissance systems, along with capabilities in space and cyber warfare.
