So, how does this affect the owner/manager of the emerging business? In many ways!
First, approximately 20 cents out of every dollar of total tax revenue collected is immediately used merely to pay the burgeoning interest on the Federal debt. This is now surpassing the costs for our entire defense establishment, and it is exceeded only by the revenues needed to fund the total Medicare and Medicaid programs. (Ostensibly, Social Security is funded independently; about $4.0 trillion of the total debt are funds borrowed from the Social Security and Medicare surpluses.) We are held hostage by this horrendous debt; 20 cents is the ransom to be paid out of every dollar we must deliver in taxes.
Thus, absolutely no governmental services or benefits are delivered in return for 20 percent of our total Federal tax bill. These are substantial funds that could most prudently be re-invested in the growth of our own business, but must be shoveled out instead simply to service the interest on the Federal debt. These substantial funds are diverted by Government fiat from potentially constructive economic investments in one's own enterprise into barren interest payments to the world of strangers who hold these obligations of the Treasury of the United States.
And secondly, the spending power of our present and potential customers would be increased dramatically if this sterile 20 percent of our total tax bill that is immediately swallowed by interest payments could only be freed for the purchase of goods and services. [Approximately half of all individual income taxes are required to pay the interest on the Federal debt.] While some of the recipients of these interest payments may recycle these funds into the purchase of domestic goods and services from emerging businesses, much of the Federal debt is held by foreigners. A substantial portion of the income of the average family of four is being devoured to pay the interest on this "family debt" equivalent to $160,000. Thus, the Federal debt is a heavy drag on the economy, impeding job creation and entrepreneurial expansion as well as consumer spending on goods and services.
How does the national debt affect the owner/manager of the emerging business? It drains substantial funds out of the business that could otherwise be invested in job creation and entrepreneurial expansion. And it drains substantial funds out of consumers' pockets that could otherwise be available for the acquisition of goods and services. While it may not be observable, the national debt casts an oppressive pall upon the whole economy. And this burden inevitably impedes the growth and prosperity of the emerging business.
http://www.businessforum.com/debt01.html
Topic: The State of the Union