National Debt Calculator - How Much Does America Owe?

On September 30, 2009, the end of fiscal year 2009 for the federal government, the Obama Administration announced that the national deficit was a record $1.42 trillion. What is even more astonishing is that this that this number represents a three-fold increase over the previous year, which at the time was a record.

The national deficit and debt are not the same thing. The national deficit is what the US Government takes in minus the money that it spends. Over time, the sum of the annual national deficits makes up the debt. Right now, national debt calculators estimate that the US debt is $11,900,000,000,000. This again is a record. In fact, the US debt is so large that the famous Times Square national debt calculator is scheduled to be removed and replaced in order to accommodate a number over $9,999,999,999,999 (right now, the owners of the clock have just made the dollar sign into a temporary extra digit).

Why do national debt calculators estimate that the US debt has been rising so quicklyall Well, for one thing, the past year brought with it a particularly tumultuous economy for America and the world. This initiated multiple rounds of massive government spending in order to prevent job losses and limit bankruptcies. Even still, the US debt did not appear in its entirety under President Obama. Rather, the bulk of the current debt can be attributed to the spending practices of President George W. Bush, who watched over America's Treasury while, according to national debt calculators, the debt rose from $5.73 trillion to $10.7 trillion, a difference of $4.97 trillion.

Many speculate that the US debt will be a problem that is handed over to the next generation of Americans. Additionally, some believe that the rapidly rising debt will lead to volatility in the price of the U.S. dollar, as countries that hold U.S. Treasury bills, bonds and notes might begin to doubt the United States' ability to repay its debt and thus begin to sell their Treasury assets.

In the meantime, anyone looking at a national debt calculator like the one in Times Square should be fearful; America, much like many of America's citizens, has a lot of work to do before it can call itself debt-free.