U.S. debt is now equal to economy

The soaring national debt has reached a symbolic tipping point: It’s now as big as the entire U.S. economy.

The amount of money the federal government owes to its creditors, combined with IOUs to government retirement and other programs, now tops $15.23 trillion.

That’s roughly equal to the value of all goods and services the U.S. economy produces in one year: $15.17 trillion as of September, the latest estimate. Private projections show the economy likely grew to about $15.3 trillion by December — a level the debt is likely to surpass this month.

Continue Reading on www.usatoday.com ...

Posting Policy
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, vulgarity, profanity, all caps, or discourteous behavior. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain a courteous and useful public environment where we can engage in reasonable discourse. Read more.
  • Michael

    Spend, o, while the U.S.A. is burning!

    • Phillip Hedo

      I didn’t write this one, but I wish I had.
      REMEMBER JANUARY 3, 2007
      The day the Democrats took over was not January 22nd 2009, it was actually January 3rd 2007, the day the Democrats took over the House of Representatives and the Senate, at the very start of the 110th Congress.
      The Democratic Party controlled a majority in both chambers for the first time since the end of the 103rd Congress in 1995 For those who are listening to the liberals propagating the fallacy that everything is “Bush’s Fault”, think about this:
      January 3rd, 2007, the day the Democrats took over the Senate and the Congress:
      The DOW Jones closed at 12,621.77
      The GDP for the previous quarter was 3.5%
      The Unemployment rate was 4.6%
      George Bush’s Economic policies SET A RECORD of 52 STRAIGHT MONTHS of JOB CREATION!
      By the way GWB had Nothing to do with the GM bailout MR. Obama did all of that not GW!!!!!!!!!
      Remember that day…
      January 3rd, 2007 was the day that Barney Frank took over the House Financial Services Committee and Chris Dodd took over the Senate Banking Committee.
      The economic meltdown that happened 15 months later was in what part of the economy?
      BANKING AND FINANCIAL SERVICES!
      THANK YOU DEMOCRATS (especially Barney ) for taking us from 13,000 DOW, 3.5 GDP and 4.6% Unemployment…to this CRISIS by (among MANY other things) dumping 5-6 TRILLION Dollars of toxic loans on the economy from YOUR Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac FIASCOES!
      (BTW: Bush asked Congress 17 times to stop Fannie & Freddie – starting in 2001 because it was financially risky for the US economy). Barney blocked it and called it a “Chicken Little Philosophy” (and the sky did fall!)
      And who took the THIRD highest pay-off from Fannie Mae AND Freddie Mac? OBAMA
      And who fought against reform of Fannie and Freddie?
      OBAMA and the Democrat Congress, especially BARNEY!!!!
      So when someone tries to blame Bush…
      REMEMBER JANUARY 3rd, 2007….THE DAY THE DEMOCRATS TOOK OVER!”
      Bush may have been in the car but the Democrats were in charge of the gas pedal and steering wheel they were driving the economy into the ditch. Budgets do not come from the White House. They come from Congress and the party that controlled Congress since January 2007 is the Democratic Party.
      Furthermore, the Democrats controlled the budget process for 2008 & 2009 as well as 2010 & 2011.
      In that first year, they had to contend with George Bush, which caused them to compromise on spending, when Bush somewhat belatedly got tough on spending increases.
      For 2009 though, Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid bypassed George Bush entirely, passing continuing resolutions to keep government running until Barack Obama could take office. At that time, they passed a massive omnibus spending bill to complete the 2009 budget.
      And where was Barack Obama during this time? He was a member of that very Congress that passed all of these massive spending bills, and he signed the omnibus bill as President to complete 2009. Let’s remember what the deficits looked like during that period:
      If the Democrats inherited any deficit, it was the 2007 deficit, the last of the Republican budgets. That deficit was the lowest in five years, and the fourth straight decline in deficit spending. After that, Democrats in Congress took control of spending, and that includes Barack Obama, who voted for the budgets.
      If Obama inherited anything, he inherited it from himself.
      In a nutshell, what Obama is saying is “I inherited a deficit that I voted for, And then I voted to expand that deficit four-fold since January 20th.”
      There is no way this will be widely publicized, unless each of us sends it on!
      “The problems we face today exist because the people who work for a living are outnumbered by those who vote for a living.”
      That my friends constitutes socialism…a welfare state

  • ray

    i find it ironic that no one in wash. is doing anything about the debt crisis(omama,reid,polosi,durbin,shumer schulz and all the rest of the politicians. i hope the house rep. our working on a plan so they can spring it on the sen and the president soon, so they can show the american people who is standing in the way of debt reduction. no budget i9n 2 yrs and spending so they can blame someone else for making us a 3rd. world country. jan of 2013 may be to late. i hope the new president has a pen full of ink to issue exec. orders to reverse what this clown and is troup has done in the past 4 yrs.

  • Bob Marshall

    As long as the Federal Reserve, the IRS and the Federal Income Tax exist, the national debt will never be paid off because they go hand in hand. One prints money with nothing to back it up, one makes sure the last one get every dollar they can from the citizens by creating so many taxes. Between taxes and surcharges on good and services, it is no wonder Americans have so little to spend in order to stimulate the economy. The only jobs the government creates are government jobs whose salaries are paid by the remaining taxpayers. Ronald Reagan borrowed a line from one of the founders which stated, “The government can’t fix the problem because they are the problem.”

  • Derek Neuhauser

    “It’s Bush’s fault” … “The Republicans held us Hostage”. “Uh … can I have some MORE DEBT … PLEASE!!” “Thank You”. “Now can I have some MORE debt … please!”. “Thank You” …
    “Can I …. “

  • Gambler#7

    Are we Greece yet?