In July, I made a video with a spinning odometer to represent our expanding national debt, and since that time, this debt has grown by approximately $242.8 billion. Given the current U.S. population of just over 303 million people, my share of the national debt increased by over $800 in under six months time.

This is not some abstract financial concept--this is real money! We continue to indebt ourselves to foreign countries, undermining our financial independence and in consequence, threatening the future sanctity of our freedom.

While I'd ultimately like to see our nation balance its budget and become more financially responsible, I'm also not about to let some foreign country continue to pick up my share of the tab in the meantime.

I figure it's about time I put my money where my mouth is, and that's exactly what I intend to do. In other words, my New Year's resolution for 2008 is that from here on out, I'm going to start financing my share of the national debt. So until we can stop politicians from blatantly wasting money, we must ensure that they do not entirely sell our country out from underneath us. After all, freedom isn't free!

Obviously, such an undertaking is going to take some time considering that my share of the national debt is currently $30,086.45 and growing. Make no mistake--I'm not about to just hand this money over to the government. For one thing, I already pay a lot of money in taxes, and taxes are by far my single biggest expense! But I will start investing in government bonds, because our national debt is financed through the sale of bonds like these.

So earlier today I went down to the bank and cashed in all the spare change I had been saving in an empty spaghetti sauce jar, which amounted to $42.88. Combined with $50 in Christmas money from my grandmother and a few dollars out of my wallet, I had enough to buy a $100 Series I U.S. Savings Bond.

Add to that another $100 bond I bought last year...

Humble beginnings for a seemingly monumental undertaking, but hey, it's a start!

Sources:

TreasuryDirect - National Debt to the Penny
The total national debt as of December 28th, 2007: $9,120,549,682,475.62

U.S. Census Bureau - Estimated U.S. Population
Estimated U.S. Population as of December 31st, 2007 at 23:02 GMT: 303,144,780