The U.S. national debt is currently just short of $19.25 trillion. We become more indebted to the tune of $12,000 every second and approximately $1.3 billion every day.
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WASHINGTON -- An auditor for the Government Accountability Office told lawmakers Wednesday that in the next few years the federal government will owe more than our entire economy produces. Gene Dodaro, the comptroller general for the Government Accountability Office, testified at the Senate Budget Committee to provide the results of its audit on the government’s financial books.
“We’re very heavily leveraged in debt. The historical average post-World War II of how much debt we held as a percent of gross domestic product was 43 percent on average; right now we’re at 74 percent.”
“The highest in the United States government’s history of debt held by the public as a percent of gross domestic product was 1946, right after World War II,” he said. “We’re on mark to hit that in the next 15 to 25 years.”
Another economic projection, which assumes that cost controls for Medicare don’t hold and that healthcare costs continue to increase, shows debt rising even further.
“These projections go to 200, 300 percent, and even higher of debt held by the public as a percent of gross domestic product. We’re going to owe more than our entire economy is producing and by definition this is not sustainable.”
Video of the hearing:
GROWING NATIONAL DEBT CRISIS
Watch a few seconds of this. Excellent discussion from the Senate last week. The clip begins automatically at 1:45. Senator Perdue questions Comptroller General Gene L. Dodaro.
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