Sunday, June 14, 2009

U.S. Debt Will Nearly Equal Annual GDP in 2011

The U.S. Office of Management and Budget projects that in 2011 our national debt will equal 97% of the country's yearly GDP. This will diminish national value stores and influence unless we can use the pressure to redefine our values, empower human capital and develop prosumer opportunities.

That news is especially scary considering the context of 1) steady and massive increase in Social Security payments due - MORE $ PRINTED / INFLATION, 2) impeding peak oil production and consumption - HIGHER COSTS, 3) potentially necessary investments in disconnected conflict regions such as North Korea, Japan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, African Nations, perhaps even Mexico, - INCREASED EXPENDITURES and 4) growing pressure to replace the dollar as the primary international reserve currency - DROPPING $ VALUE, DECREASED MARKET INFLUENCE, INCREASED SECURITY COSTS?.

Silver Lining: The socio-economic environment is more attuned to powerful, scalable solutions. Web-based innovation, collaboration and prosumer empowerment is being encouraged by the market. Sort-term creative destruction can expand and fertilized the phase space for rapid innovation.

Though it will add to short-term national exposure to risk, Obama's pledge to bring science spending (essentially a U.S. R&D and human development investment) is the the main counter to massive spending. It's the Great American Bet and will determine our national role in the near-term future world.

Thanks to poly sci prof David Mason at End of the American Century for the info. Be sure to check out his analysis.

About Alvis Brigis

My Photo
Alvis Brigis is a media specialist and futurist residing in Los Angeles. Most recently, he was Executive Producer for The Future of Facebook, the first Open Foresight project to be funded and released, and Story Producer on History Channel’s Invention USA. He’s produced and written for TV networks including NBC, VH1, THC and Sundance Channel. He co-founded Future Scanner (a prediction harvesting tool), Swarmado (a mobile content-sharing app for events) and has developed a variety of forward-looking startups. Alvis serves on the advisory board of Acceleration Studies Foundation and blogs about the social side of accelerating change at Social Node. He’s also an avid sci-fi and comedy writer.