Red Ink and Lots of It
from The Water's Edge

Red Ink and Lots of It

Blog Post by James M. Lindsay
January 17, 2011 12:17 pm (EST)

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Budget, Debt, and Deficits

A picture illustration shows a 100 Dollar banknote laying one Dollar banknotes.
A picture illustration shows a 100 Dollar banknote laying on Dollar banknotes. (Kacper Pempel/courtesy Reuters)

The Associated Press reports that the federal government’s debt has now passed $14 trillion. No surprise there. We knew this day was coming. But it’s still depressing that it has arrived.

The AP story reports some sobering numbers to put our debt load in perspective:

  • The debt totals $45,300 for every man, woman, and child in the United States

  • With a projected federal budget deficit of $1.3 trillion this year, the debt is growing by $4 billion a day.

  • The federal government is borrowing 41 cents for every dollar it spends this year.

  • The debt grew 40 percent during George W. Bush’s second term, rising from $7.6 trillion to $10.6 trillion.

  • The national debt is up 40 percent in the first two years of Barack Obama’s presidency.

Those are all ugly numbers.

More on:

Budget, Debt, and Deficits