The bill from China has arrived, how much do you owe?

The Communist government of China is now entitled to anywhere between one to two years of your full household income - and they aim to collect. According to statistics released by the US Treasury Department and the Census Bureau, the US now owes foreign governments about $47,495 per household.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - In all fairness, it isn't just China we owe, America owes money all across the world, however, the notion that the world's largest economy is in hock to foreign nations is somewhat irksome and appreciating just how much debt we owe to foreign states is galling. 

China is the largest foreign holder of US debt.

Imagine hearing that you must work for the Chinese government for the next year or more, simply to pay your portion of the national debt. 

Worst of all, some of this money is owed to nations whose relationship with the US is decidedly lukewarm. 

For some shocking figures, one merely has to compare 2009 to present. In the four years Obama has been in office, household indebtedness to foreign states increased from $27,000 per household to $47,000. 

That means your family just borrowed $20,000 from other countries without you realizing it. The signature on the loan is Obama's but the bill is yours. 

Of course, purveyors of debt suggest that not all debt is bad and that it's okay because our children will pay this easily, thanks to their rising productivity level, but this apologetic is fatally flawed. US productivity is by no means increasing enough to keep pace with our growing, already debilitating debt. 

What did we get for this money? Improved infrastructure? Better education? A squadron of new stealth bombers? No, not even that. In fact, any government official would be hard pressed to point out just exactly what we did with all that money. 

Still, it has to be paid back, these are loans, not gifts. The popular solution is to merely pass the bill to the next generation, but sticking our children with the bill merely worsens what is already an unbearable situation. 

Of course, the bad news doesn't end with this, there's one more thing to consider. About half of all US households do not pay income taxes. They may pay lesser sales taxes and so on, but no payroll or income taxes whatsoever. And while some of these households no longer pay because of retirement or military service, or other very legitimate reasons, the fact remains that only about half of all Americans are paying the bill. 

So while you're paying installments in the interest to China, be advised - your share of the bill just doubled because your neighbor's not paying a dime. 

The good news: Foxconn is hiring. 

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