Yesterday, the U.S. national debt passed $16 trillion. On President
Barack Obama’s watch, the debt has increased by 50 percent, as campaign
promise after campaign promise has drowned in a sea of federal spending.
When he was running for President, Obama condemned George W. Bush for adding $4 trillion to the national debt over eight years, calling it “irresponsible” and “unpatriotic.” Now—in less than four years—Obama’s Administration has already added almost $6 trillion to the debt. That means he is on track to triple Bush’s debt increase over eight years.
It is important to understand the magnitude of this debt increase and what it means for the country. Several terms are often used to describe the debt, but they are not interchangeable. Here is a quick guide to the U.S. debt.
National debt or “gross debt,” which just passed $16 trillion: This includes what we think of as federal debt plus intergovernmental debt—money the U.S. government has loaned itself from one part of the budget to another. An example of intergovernmental debt is transfers from the general fund to Social Security.
When he was running for President, Obama condemned George W. Bush for adding $4 trillion to the national debt over eight years, calling it “irresponsible” and “unpatriotic.” Now—in less than four years—Obama’s Administration has already added almost $6 trillion to the debt. That means he is on track to triple Bush’s debt increase over eight years.
It is important to understand the magnitude of this debt increase and what it means for the country. Several terms are often used to describe the debt, but they are not interchangeable. Here is a quick guide to the U.S. debt.
National debt or “gross debt,” which just passed $16 trillion: This includes what we think of as federal debt plus intergovernmental debt—money the U.S. government has loaned itself from one part of the budget to another. An example of intergovernmental debt is transfers from the general fund to Social Security.
- The “debt ceiling” applies to this measure of the debt. At this rate, it will hit the ceiling again—meaning Congress will have to act and will likely raise the limit again—perhaps as early as November of this year.
- At $16 trillion, this number has passed total U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), the measure of all that is produced in the economy.
- Since Obama took office, the national debt has increased from about $10.6 trillion to more than $16 trillion—a 50 percent increase.
- Debt per taxpayer: $111,414 and counting
1 comment:
I know for sure that this debt doesn’t mean anything good. And it proceeds to grow because our government continues borrowing money. I think that American debt based economy is the real and huge problem. Government shows by example that if you don’t have something then you can borrow it and then borrow again and again. Many people across the world take the US as a country where dreams come true, but it seems that dreams just disappear in all these debts and financial problems. Lots of consumers live through payday loans instant and credit cards because their income is low and they try to stay afloat through borrowing money.
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