[tweetmeme] The national debt in the United States right now stands at about $13 Trillion. Kind of hard to wrap your head around that figure, right? Well, to put it in perspective, One trillion dollars would stretch nearly from the earth to the sun. So, imagine doing that 13 times!
Now, you’re probably wondering what the heck the national debt has to do with social media. Well, this morning, I heard a report on NPR’s Morning Edition about a woman who started a program 20 years ago to encourage Americans to help pay off the U.S. debt. It was called “Citizens for a Debt Free America,” and the idea was to have everyone send the federal government about 2.5 to 3% of their yearly income every year for10 years.
The amazing thing about this is, people did it! In fact, they’re still doing it. During the current fiscal year, people have sent in $1.6 million. The only problem is, that amount has only reduced the debt by .00001 percent. Pretty much a tiny drop in the bucket.
The report got me thinking. In this day and age of social media, maybe the federal government needs to set up a Facebook page to encourage people to send in money. The trick would be coming up with content. You need videos and photos and contests to engage the American public. I know… Whoever sends in the most money each week can have their U.S. representative spend a day working at their job – so the folks in Congress can actually see how hard their constituents work each day. Wait! I’ve got a better idea – the representative will have to match the amount, and even double it. That’ll help pay off the debt even faster.
What am I thinking? That will never fly. What’s your opinion? Can Facebook get America out of its debt crisis? Or maybe we should use Twitter…. 🙂
