Trillions and Trillions

 When I was a kid, "trillions" was such an unthinkably large number that no one, literally no one even used the word. Affable astronomer Carl Sagan, when describing cosmic distances, would resort to "billions and billions and billions" to describe the mind warpingly large numbers that pertained to the distances between stars and galaxies, only mentioning "trillions" on occasion as something so far beyond the realms as to be on the edge of numeric concept itself, the last measurable stop before "infinity".  

Then, all of a sudden, the word was used, normally in something of a panic by people dismissed as cranks: "There will be a TRILLION DOLLAR national debt if we're not careful!"  

A national debt, of course, being a complete thing accumulated across many years, and even generations of taxpayers. 

And shortly after the cranks were dismissed, the national debt crossed that trillion dollar mark.  A couple years after that, individual annual budgets started adding up to  a TRILLION DOLLARs.

Fast forward to 2021. Nearly multiple trillion dollar figures are now being casually tossed around as budget line items. 

Where is the clamor? Where is the call for fiscal sanity? 

>>crickets<<

This tells me things. One is that inflation, which I might mention is a intentional choice implemented by specific policy decisions that are fostered by fiat currencies, has taken a bite out of people's holdings.

The other is that people have become completely numb to large figures of money.

The deeply insidious thing, however, is that the people's relationship to their own property has become distorted and alienated.  The highly productive, taxpaying people of America have lost any sense that this is THEIR property being spent. 

Sidebar:
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And, of course, the less productive, non taxpaying people of America, which is something like 45% of the population have always had an entirely different, parasitic relationship to that property.
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An alienated relationship to one's property is only possible if one has become alienated to one's own very life itself, for your property is the tangible result of your choice of actions, and use of intellect, body, and preciously finite life's time. 

Those TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS are actually not "backed by the full faith and credit of the US government".  They are underwritten by the VERY MINUTES OF YOUR LIVES SPENT ACQUIRING THEM. 

It is the VALUE YOU CREATE that is taken from you and auctioned off. 

You really ought to care.