The Cost of Our National Debt in Pictures
Conn Carroll /
Late this December, the Unites States Treasury will reach the $12.1 trillion statutory ceiling on the national debt. It will mark the 91st time Congress has had to raise the debt limit since the original $43 billion ceiling was established in 1940.
Many on the left argue that the United States federal government can borrow and spend as much money as it wants, and that any concerns about what it might cost us in the future are just a Phantom Menace. But as the chart to the right shows, we are already paying a hefty sum in monthly interest payments that are equal in size to what we spend in an entire year on other government priorities.
And the situation is only going to get worse under President Barack Obama’s budget. Heritage Foundation fellow Brian Riedl reports: (more…)