How much is your portion of the U.S. debt?

Posted Nov 15th 2009 3:15PM by Kevin Kersten
Filed under: Economic Data

With congress set to raise the limit on the national debt, let's take a look at just how much money that is.

With a total statutory debt limit of $12.1 trillion ($12,100,000,000,000) and the U.S. population at 304 million (304,000,000), the debt per American is $39,800.

The U.S. debt is the total amount of money the government has borrowed (from its people and foreigners) in order to pay for past government spending. Some of the money has been invested in infrastructure like roads and education, while the rest has gone into political pork barrel projects, subsidies or social causes.

One way to think about the $39,000 is that it is the amount that the U.S. government has been charged on its credit card. If it is able to make more than the minimum payments with increased tax revenue and thus reduce its overall debt, then borrowing can be a good thing. But if it is unable, then the payments become a heavy burden on the government and the next generation.

Are you ready to pay your portion off?

Tags: congress, US debt, UsDebt

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Reader Comments (Page 3 of 3)

11-17-2009 @ 3:37AM

palazzolo said...

Those of you who voted for good ole W should pay up. Obama was brought upon this mess. Those who criticize Obama for this mess need to pull your head out of your ass and realize the republicans caused this mess. Were in a war we shouldnt be in and thousands of americans died because of it and thats what caused our country to go down hill. Its ashame to say but the U.S. is going down hill and the end doesnt look close. Thanks to China and other foreign countries who pretty much bailed the U.S. out. But America sure does love wal mart and all those chinese made low prices.