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United States Debt
From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_public_debt
The United States government debt, commonly called the "public debt" or the "national debt", is the amount of money owed by the federal government of the United States to holders of U.S. debt instruments. Debt held by the public is all federal debt held by states, corporations, individuals, and foreign governments, but does not include intragovernmental debt obligations or debt held in the Social Security Trust Fund. Types of securities held by the public include, but are not limited to, Treasury Bills, Notes, Bonds, TIPS, United States Savings Bonds, and State and Local Government Series securities.[1]
As of March 16, 2009, the total U.S. federal debt was $11,042,553,971,450.47[2], or about $36,314 per capita. Of this amount, debt held by the public was roughly $6.74 trillion.[3] In 2007, the public debt was 36.8 percent of GDP [4], with a total debt of 65.5 percent of GDP.[5] The CIA Factbook ranked the total percentage as 22nd in the world.[6]
Public debt is the amount owed by the government to its creditors, whether they are nationals or foreigners. External debt is the debt of all sectors of the economy (public and private), owed to foreigners. In the U.S., foreign ownership of the public debt is a significant part of the nation's external debt. The Bureau of the Public Debt, a division of the Department of the Treasury, calculates the amount of money owed by the national government on a daily basis.[7][8][9][10]
The total debt has increased over $500 billion each year since FY 2003, considering both budgeted and non-budgeted spending.[11] The annual US budget deficit declined from $318 billion in 2005 to $162 billion in 2007,[12] but increased to $455 billion in 2008.[13]Since FY 2002, the deficit reported by the media has been significantly less than the annual change in the debt. The annual change in debt surpassed $1 trillion for the first time in FY 2008.[14]
The Government Accountability Office (GAO), Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the U.S. Treasury Department have warned that debt levels will increase dramatically relative to historical levels if entitlement programs are not reformed. For example, projected expenditures for Medicare and Social Security programs exceed tax revenues by over $40 trillion over the next 75 years. Mandatory expenditures are projected to exceed federal tax revenues sometime between 2030 and 2040 if reforms are not undertaken.[15][16] The severity of the measures necessary to address this challenge increases the longer such changes are delayed. These organizations have stated that the government's current fiscal path is "unsustainable." [17]