US Debt May Soar By $2 Trillion In 2009

Washington Post:

With President-elect Barack Obama and congressional Democrats considering a massive spending package aimed at pulling the nation out of recession, the national debt is projected to jump by as much as $2 trillion this year, an unprecedented increase that could test the world's appetite for financing U.S. government spending.

For now, investors are frantically stuffing money into the relative safety of the U.S. Treasury, which has come to serve as the world's mattress in troubled times. Interest rates on Treasury bills have plummeted to historic lows, with some short-term investors literally giving the government money for free.

Read the whole story: Washington Post

Comments

[iDonkey]

Krugman says

don't worry about it and

I'm not going to worry about it

heh...

[MNmommy]

I trust Paul a heII of a lot more than Hank, Ben, Larry, Bob and many others!

[yappnmutt]

you shouldn't trust any of them. fiat money systems don't work. they have a 100% failure rate. anyone who supports a fiat money system is a fraud.

[vjoseph]

Add Nouriel Roubini and George Soros to those you should trust

[SaviourMachine]

Sorry,Uncle Sam,I don't have $86,000.

[ribe8g]

Keep some cash and food on hand. Worry about your personal debt, these
figures mean nothing because our gov't and business leaders are stone liars.

[maxdenn]

Lord, what I wouldn't give to be a fly on the wall when GWB meets his maker.

[HumeSkeptic]

To all the Republicans and Republican apologists posting here, you can respond by posting the following link (first posted by Episcopagan):

http://www.cedarcomm.com/~stevelm1/usdebt.htm

It tells the whole story since 1938

The Presidents responsible for the highest rate of increase in national debt are : George W, George H W, Reagan, Ford and Nixon. All Republican.
.

[MNmommy]

Good think a lot of us bookmarked that.

Heh.

[KO4Pres]

Bookmarked for later digestion. Thanks

[ChristianEcon.com]

Great info--thanks. Scroll down to the revenue vs. spending bargraph: every Dem admin (including Carter) brought in more than was spent; every Republican did the opposite. Rightwing pundits are so full of b.s.

[MNmommy]

So? Tell us something we didn't know.

Troops have entered G a z a.

[bygollymissmolly]

What this country needs is another immediate huge tax cut for the wealthy so that their money can then trickle down to us. What? Been there and done that, and it didn't work. Oh well, maybe we should reverse the process, tax the s h i t out of the wealthy and trickle it up to rebuild the middle class.

I read recently that if we taxed corporations (and actually made them pay the tax) at the rate they were paying in the 50's and 60's (when they made nice profits), we could pay off our national debt in a little more than a year. A first step would be to make corporations actually pay taxes. Current estimates are that 60% of US corporations pay zero taxes.

[rubygreen]

McCains rant during the campaign about how this country has the highest business tax was b.s. Maybe on paper it looked that way, but so many loopholes they get away with paying nothing. I get taxed at a high level because I am single, an independent contractor, with no kids. I am not a burden to the system and I am paying through the nose.

[maxdenn]

GWB should be an inmate somewhere. He is responsible for children dying.

[KOisGod]

2 trillion?

What's that, about 2000 Euro?

[vjoseph]

20 Yen

[bygollymissmolly]

My, what a legacy you have left this country George. Are you proud of yourself. Republicans - are you also proud of yourselves, because you are also responsible.

And the sad thing is that number does not include the money we have borrowed from China to fight George's vanity war. That has all been done "off the books".

George has done what Osama wanted to do to this country. He has bankrupted us. It's no wonder Osama has left us alone for the last 7 years. George has been doing his job for him.

[loki]

Refresh my memory with facts please, not opinions. but wasnt the fall of the USSR due to a economic collapse? Could history be repeating itself?

[maxdenn]

Time will tell, my friend.

[ThunderclapNewman]

Nope.

Different countries, different economic circumstances, different government policies.

[cheneyhasawarmachine]

good point newman no similiarties at all

[MNmommy]

The re-collapse of Russia was thanks to Chicago School economics (after the fall of the USSR).

[vjoseph]

Wrong. Paul Krugman wrote a great article about the collapse of the USSR, research it

[yappnmutt]

more like the british empire. the euro is king now. when china cuts off our line of credit the dollar will buy one piece of bubblegum.

[vjoseph]

No, it was economic growth or lack of that caused the collapse of the USSR. The Solow's growth model says that when an economic relies heavily on capital, it will experience diminishing returns, even if it increase its labor unit per machines. The lack of technological changes, which would have helped propelled the USSR economy was what led to its utter collapse.

[myangeldog1]

So...accor­ding to the main photo, each family including mine owes $86,000...­...hahahah­ahahahahah­ah!!

[HeIsTheOne]

I couldn't pay the interest for one year on that.

My local town tax bill came in today....Y­ikes! Gas prices have dropped, but my town is still living in the $4/gallon world for highway costs.

[inluvwkeitholbermann]

i'm sorry but i don't have a spare $86 grand to sheII out.......­especially since i didn't even benefit from it.......(­bailing out wallstreet, bIowlng up the WRONG country...­....and I'M supposed to foot the biII?????? WTF??????)

[only1Demvoter]

inluvwk.o. : That was my reaction to the 86K. news, as well...


-ralph

[myangeldog1]

Isn't that in s a n e!! I couldn't believe it when I saw that....my exact sentiment.­..WTF?!

[HumeSkeptic]

The good news: that much money wouldn't buy much.

[williamg]

How do you run up so much debt, and have nothing to show for it? I mean, if I run up my personal credit cards, I'm atleast going to have a couple new flat screen TVs. Something. Anything. This guy Bush doubles the national debt, and has nothing but disaster to show for it.

[cheneyhasawarmachine]

historical high in home ownership.

[williamg]

Which led to the worst financial disaster in 70 years....

[rubygreen]

And those average homes are now worth about half of what people paid for them.. maybe we should just give the gov't our homes, that might cover a portion of the debt we each owe!

[vjoseph]

WROOOONG. Historical high in war expenditures

[Hirnlego]

You don't actually own it if you're in debt. Its paid with other people's money.

[iDonkey]

very very very

good point

heh...

[tibetanterrier]

Mr Obama can take his new stimulus package and shove it righT up his a s s. Give me real reform and stop handing out free money

[Pennsanic]

Nobel prize (in economics) Paul Krugman says: Right now, with the economy in free fall and everyone terrified of Great Depression 2.0, opponents of a strong federal response are having a hard time finding support. John Boehner, the House Republican leader, has been reduced to using his Web site to seek “credentialed American economists” willing to add their names to a list of “stimulus spending skeptics.”

But once the economy has perked up a bit, there will be a lot of pressure on the new administration to pull back, to throw away the economy’s crutches. And if the administration gives in to that pressure too soon, the result could be a repeat of the mistake F.D.R. made in 1937 — the year he slashed spending, raised taxes and helped plunge the United States into a serious recession.

The point is that it may take a lot longer than many people think before the U.S. economy is ready to live without bubbles. And until then, the economy is going to need a lot of government help...

[vjoseph]

Open your mouth, I have something to shove down your throat

[chaos4700]

Gee, isn't this fiscal conservatism at it's finest?