U.S. Debt Crosses $14 Trillion Mark

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The amount of U.S. debt subject to the country's legal maximum has topped $14 ...

Approval Rate: 43%

43%Approval ratio

Reviews 16

Sort by:
  • by

    robert57

    Sat Dec 17 2011

    Interest on the national debt of $14.5 trillion is 400 billion, comprised of zero on short term tbills/tbonds composing 70% and 9% on long term tbonds, EE bonds and myriad others, for an average rate of 2.8%. When the short term rate goes up to 7%, as it will when the dollar falls in value, interest expense will be 1.1 trillion at an average rate of 7.6%. We don't have the extra 700 billion. Think of it this way -- you max out your credit cards while paying the introductory interest rate. You can barely make the minimum payments (interest only). Then the credit card companies raise your rate to 29%. You are screwed. For awhile you can borrow from Peter to pay Paul, but you're in a death spiral. You are going to crash in bankruptcy court when you can't borrow more. Your credit score goes into the toilet and you are forced to live on current income. It's the American Way of money management. Two million of us do it every year.

  • by

    littledragon

    Sat Dec 17 2011

    Tips for the future: Learn how to ration and how to speak Chinese.

  • by

    ralphthewonder_llama

    Sat Nov 12 2011

    Although the "official" number is now [click here] close to fifteen trillion, the actual number is much higher. How much we do not know. If it is hard for you to visualize what a trillion dollars is, think of it this way: if you stacked $1,000,000 (one million dollars) vertically using $100 bills, you would have a stack of one hundred dollar bills just under four feet high. If you stacked a billion dollars worth of $100 bills up, it would be over 350 feet high. If you stacked up one trillion $100 bills, the stack would be over 67 miles high. If you stacked up the national debt (close to $15 trillion; see link above) in $100 bills, it would reach over 1000 miles high. For reference, the International Space Station orbit is only about 280 miles above the earth's surface. Bottom line: we're screwed.

  • by

    poolguy3511

    Thu Jul 28 2011

    DEAR EVERYONE: Don't complain if all you do is vote. Voting does nothing and means nothing anymore. If you are mad, log off of your political forums, turn your computer off, climb up the stairs out of your parents basement and do something about it.

  • by

    djahuti

    Thu Jun 02 2011

    It's all a bunch of horse shit. "Money" only has value because people agree to give it value.There is no more "Gold Standard" or ANYTHING TANGIBLE backing our currency today. It's an electronic shell game. Everything since barter has been a freakin shell game,for that matter. Credit,debt,interest, all mass hallucinations. Meanwhile,the REAL wealth (our environment) is being squandered and plundered in pursuit of more fools gold. I don't know how brainwashed one has to be to believe that a pile of money is going to save you when your water,soil & air are tainted.Our species is headed for the cliff of extinction.Not in my lifetime,but in the next few generations.If people don't get their priorities straight,the kids of today & their grandchildren are truly fucked. Meanwhile,the most selfish,greedy & arrogant people are enjoying watching everyone else scramble for crumbs from the comfort of their Ivory Towers.If there IS a hell,they'll roast there.

  • by

    bird808

    Thu Apr 07 2011

    I mean really? Should anybody be surprised? Portugal is the most recent country to be seeking a bailout and guess whose going to be lumbered with the bill? It's not you guys that's for sure. I mean 4 billion. As if the UK isn't struggling enough.

  • by

    chalky

    Sun Feb 13 2011

    The bad economy is a global epidemic. I think these things go in waves, but this certainly seems to be sticking around. While I don't care much for Obama (voted for Nader because I hate politics), I can't stand the fact that people continually blame him for the country's problems.....last time I checked, Republican members of Congress went on their own expensive international junkets and participated in pork spending/earmarks just as much as the Democrats. Get a life....there isn't much discrepancy b/w say someone like Obama and Bush....last time I looked, they both liked to give friends comfy positions, fuck up economies, continue wars, while taking numerous New England vacations.

  • by

    abichara

    Thu Feb 10 2011

    The total National Debt is already worth well in excess of 90% of GDP, with this recent "milestone". Once the debt reaches $14.31 trillion (the government's current "debt limit"), Congress will begin to debate whether or not to raise the debt ceiling. A bipartisan consensus has developed around the idea that we must lift the ceiling once again, so we don't formally default. The US government will likely shut down at the moment we would default, but the impacts of such circumstances will be far more wide-ranging. Taking this path would cause the value of the dollar to crater, thus unwinding the carry trade, the petrodollar system, and the entire web of interbank payment flows that undergirds the global capital markets. It would be catastrophic, to say the least, and it would impact every nation on Earth, likely sending everyone into a very deep, deflationary, sharp Depression, followed by high inflation. If you want to talk about a doomsday scenario, this is it. There will be... Read more

  • by

    frankswildyear_s

    Thu Feb 10 2011

    Any statistician or economist will tell you that the absolute number isn't important in and of itself, its the trend that matters. Unfortunately for the US, in the last decade when things were generally Bullish in all of the western economies, the US didn't really effectively wrestle deficits and debt into the ground. As a result they were hit by the global bust in a state of weakness. They are going to have to work pretty hard during the recovery years to catch up to economies that were balancing budgets and retiring debt prior to 2008.

  • by

    pugwash01

    Wed Feb 09 2011

    If we were to believe most Obama haters, Obama not only created the economic slump but also made this country BE in debt! Sorry for the world off wizard approach but the last I checked it was the Republicans in power for that and the last time a Democrat was in power he did something pretty good with the economics and stability of this fine country!!! All beit that he had addiction to sex and a hankering for not telling the truth about it! It Seems to me allot of haters have a hankering for blaming only the one that is in power. Instead of what abuse of power has happened on record for some time! But then again I here most Republicans only see black or white! (Opps did I really say that!!!) ;) Wise guy you would be a great reviewer on Politics if you did not put you personal agenda out there and wrote a review about the facts! Some of the facts you post are very well written and I personally like reading them. (It’s when your agenda surfaces, things become cloudy!) But then again who a... Read more

  • by

    numbah16tdhaha

    Wed Feb 09 2011

    Don't worry, our grandkids can foot the damn bill, right?

  • by

    castlebee

    Wed Feb 09 2011

    Welcome to my world Uncle Sam.

  • by

    guy_dc1b

    Wed Feb 09 2011

    And congress is set to spend $1.1 trillion dollars on non-defense discretionary programs for fiscal year 2011. The troops STILL don’t have enough adequate equipment and protection, but Obama’s president now so who cares.

  • by

    kamylienne

    Tue Feb 08 2011

    . . . . is it bad that I'm so numb to it that I'll think it's news when it DOESN'T increase?

  • by

    genghisthehun

    Mon Feb 07 2011

    The little whirlpool is starting to form above the drain as the water goes around faster and faster in the sink.

  • by

    loerke

    Mon Jan 31 2011

    Yet somehow the dollar will continue to remain the world's strongest currency, proving that the long-time American drift into deflation can't be stopped, no matter how hard we try to destroy the buck ...