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Total Debt: $16,432,730,050,569.12; Debt To GDP: 103%
We already knew that the US crossed the debt ceiling on New Year's day. It is, however, one thing to read a Geithner press release, it is another to see America's ridiculous debt it in action. So here it is, courtesy of TreasuryDirect, in all its debt ceiling glory: $16,432,730,050,569.12, with the debt subject to the ceiling at the limit of $16.394 trillion.

And with that we can close the books on the first quarter of Fiscal 2013, in which US public debt grew by $366 billion, some $122 billion per month on average.
This number will now remain fixed, and not change for the next two months, or until the debt ceiling is once again riased, most likely by another $2.4 trillion to $18.8 trillion, to much theatrical kicking and screaming, some time in February or March. In the meantime, any new debt issuance will have to be offset dollar for dollar with a reduction in various government retirement funds, Federal asset sales, SLGS issuance suspension, and the various other internal and external liability rearrangement, i.e., the Treasury's emergency response, the various components of which were listed here.
And for those curious what this means in debt/GDP terms, we apply the roughly 1.5% annualized GDP growth to Q4 GDP to get a debt/GDP number at December 31, 2012 of 103%, and rising very rapidly.
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Boner to resign? if he does the debt limit now becomes a real deal
if so markets tank tomorrow
the gift that keeps on giving
I bet Obama raises the ceiling by decree and hands out 30B each to the Sandy states.
Obama rolls like that.. He don't need no congress..
Does the 103 % number include the Fannie/Freddie liabilities ?
The gvt regrets to inform you that you will not get your refund on time this year, because the gvt has no money, execpt yours.
In my wildest dreams I could not have accomplished such an amazing feat the US Government has accomplished for me. Keep that national debt growing parabolicly for me Congress and Mr President. I want to see the $20 trillion mark hit as soon as possible.
Dream higher my son. 100T before I die.
After he gets done talkin to the chocolate carbonator, he'll be green with envy and stoned with wisdom.
don't worry boys and girls.....
USA is too big to fail
who wants war with America????
Just enjoy the empire
@whatsinaname: No. Actual Fed Govt debt is >$22,000,000,000,000.
It does not matter, because this time is different. US have the technology to sustain high debt levels easily. The greatest country on earth invented the printing press, the tablet computer and the Facebook. This will change the world and the US will lead again.
I know you're high on Bunga Bunga so I'll let you off
"I bet Obama raises the ceiling by decree and hands out 30B each to the Sandy states.
Obama rolls like that.. He don't need no congress.."
Yes the Sandy damage to Ill and Calf was just incredible, they will get included with it.
funny how much debt got pushed into November and Dec after the election
POLITICAL SCIENCE FOR DUMMIES:
Tax-cuts under Bush = Bad
Tax-cuts under Obama = good
Gov't spending under Bush = Bad
Gov't spending under Obama = Good
$200 B deficits under Bush = Catstrophe (just ask Krugman)
$1.2 Trillion deficits under Obama = would be better if he spent even more (just ask Krugman)
foreign policy moves under Bush (any) = bad
foreign policy moves under Obama (any) = perfect execution of policy (just ask Time mag.)
If you think this is just my opinion, then you are wrong 'cuz there are legions of media types and liberal arts professors who verify and confirm this.
Jeb 2016!
LOL
Michael Pento on cnbc right now saying he went long stocks. this guy was all cash for as long as i could remember.
It's going to go up, but I wouldn't touch that paper with Bob Dole's dick.
Poly Sci 101 cont -
Intergovernmental Holdings - Social Security funds stolen by the Kleptocrats and the corporate welfare pigs - the oligarchs.
Just look at the fiscal cliff deal - 1.5 bil to goldman sachs - 150 mil to hollywood(thanksto dark thirty) and 45 mil for nascar etc - another 1.5 in legalized off shore accounting tricks -
Coupled with taxing any mortgage writedown as 100% income - so write down 100,000 and owe the fed and state gov 35,000 - yea that'll work!
Also tax breaks to help people take care of their elderly parents and keep them in their homesinstead of institutionalizing them are also gone.
We the People pay the Bills and the corporations get the Deals.
Bread and Circuses - or should I say SNAP and Sandy Hook?
Tribe worship by the too dumb to figure it out crowd.
If you really believe that there are two different political parties, then you have had your head up your ass for about 40+ years. Wake the fuck up already.
+1
See Glenn Greenwald's "repulsive progressive hypocrisy"
for some reason not finding a full version of that article right now - too lazy to hunt.
Yes, this is all perfectly understandable and rational when you understand one thing. The reason Bush did all those things was to benefit the rich and the corrupt military industrial complex. The reason Obama did the exact same things was to benefit the poor, restore justice to our tax system and bring balance to the force.
I hate to break it to you, but they both do the same fucking things, for the same fucking reasons, because they have the same fucking owners.
Apparently GernB's humor, clearly tagged as such with "bring balance to the force", went unnoticed by a few people.
Good for you - sticking with the ol' red fish blue fish storyline.
Pro-TARP shill Cantor to replace Boehner most likely. Nothing will change.
Cantor doesnt cry as far as I know, so there is that.
No, but he is a frequent visitor to the Wailing Wall.
Puppet Replacement Theory: C = S2 + D2
C = Change
S2 = Same Shit
D2 = Different Day
And in many circles this is considered fiscal restraint.
<God help us, but just wait until they're really trying to cut back.>
Full speed ahead captain.
Set the presses to top speed and prepare for overdrive.
US debt clock puts the debt to GDP at 105.68%.
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
Main point of course being that regardless of calculation, we're definitely, for sure, insolvent.
"Listen up buster. I'll tell you when we're insolvent. And we are not insolvent." - Helicopter Ben
<I still have an entire warehouse full of one's and zero's in reserve.>
But we "owe it to ourselves" right?
FUBAR NATION
I can't seem to find my FFB debit card anywhere. Hmmm.
Bubble Bernanke: "We will re-review the need for further market juicing at QE 100, until then party on!"
Collapse. Just freaking collapse before they can do any more damage.
dont tell it to the VXX ha ha or VVXY
VXX about to take out all time low of $27.94...so tempting but.must.not.buy. Widow maker trade...US gov will punish any all who have the temerity to "short Merica" by running VXX to $.01.
Bottom line is - either join the Ponzi or be destroyed
FUCK YOU BERNANKE
Looks like we're goin ta Di'ney Lan' Bitchez...........
The Fiscal Cliff Ride -- Mind The Gap!
Debt to the penny? How much did Rumsfeld say was missing from Pentagon budget on 9/10? Ever read the qualifications to any government financial statements?
Doomed, we are...
iDefault.
Build some more bombs and military hardware quick! Another unfunded war will fix it (provided that we actually kill a substantial part of the world's population this time)!! < sarc off >
Does one on our own soil count? Because, the longer this charade persists, the more the philosophical divide extends and we shall go to war against our countrymen at some point.
We will anyway. Just like the soviets did during and after their collapse. Ours will be no different. The good news is that when the creditors come looking for debt repayment, the country that owed them all that money won't exist. Just like the collapse and break-up, of the Soviet Union, our collapse will follow a similar path.
Creative destruction is a beautiful thing. Sometimes, in order to save the country, it has to be burned to the ground.
There's a lot of dead wood in this forest that needs to be burned out to make way for new growth. Well, counterfeit wood anyway.
In any case, it will be a lot cheaper to fight locally, once the foreign credit dries up.
dow up 270. Nas up 83pts. Gold up 9 bucks. 9 bucks. it's like they feel bad for it. nice silver knockdown off the highs too.
That steak is looking mighty tasty right about now.
pretty soon the offer will be a hamburger and I will probably take it.
Many boats rise on the heap of monetized gubbamint cheese.
You have to laugh at the 'precision' of all this .... down to the last motherfuckin' 12 cents of, never to be repaid, Bennybucks!
Excel BitChez
A lot of nuts on that Bernank.
"Hey where the fuck you goin? You still owe .12 and I can't print that picayune shit, so I'll just take this gold tootha yours. Not that's it's money or anything, but we'll just call it even."
Went to Harvard, Princeton and MIT. I have been running banks and managing governments and thousands of people and I can assure you that this chart is completely irrelevant. And I also show up on TV every other day. So you can trust me.
but but but all those reasons you gave makes me not trust you.....
no no no.....these institutions are now inhabited by legacy students of the "highest order" and the best professors money could buy...."off".....nothing like bastardizing once proud institutions to guarantee bloodlines.....welcome to the Twilight Zone.
Listen world, if we default you get shit. Keep lending and you get interest payments. That's been working here in merica fo the las hunderd years.
Didn't have to borrow the interest payment before.
FedRes HAVING to buy 80% of UST's,cause nobody else will at these rates.
Just how much longer will the rest of the world accept dollars for real things ?
Couple of years max,get your money out now,if not yourself as well.
Since when has dollars been a real thing? They suddenly gonna notice now? /sarc
Arrow up BTW
10 year at 1.84%; Pfft. Call me when it's at 18.4% and I'll *start* to listen. In the meantime; as long as the shopkeeper continues to take these Benjamins even though the ink smears, I'll keep buying sh*t with ''em...
interest rates go to 18.4% and the national debt interest payments go to 3 trillion dollars. Good luck with that.
I remember back in 2004-5 some guys stated that if a country had a Debt/GDP ratio of over 70% they were considered a BANANA REPUBLIC...then again we had a mesure of M3 back around that time too.
SCAM MARKETS WHERE YOU CAN PLAY WITH THE VOLITILITY ALGO DEVIL
AS HE DRINKS YOU CAPITAL SLOWLY AS YOUR LIFE [ACCOUNT]
FADES INTO NOTHING BUT TAXATION WHILE IN PRISON YOU WATCH NICK LIESMAN ON CNBC UNTIL YOUR BRAIN FALLS OUT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHuqLM4f7Gk
Then the new US rating will be BANANAAA+
I up arrowed you because that is good, really good analysis.
It was all so different when GWB was the big cheese, dontcha know?
Would that be head, or fromunda?
because of your base comments, we can not be BFF
edit: you forgot crack
I'm simply crushed.
Let's see, 16 Trillion debt divided by 16 Million workers = Screwed Bitchez.
Ahhhh, it seems like it was just yesterday we hit that 100% debt/GDP mark...
No kidding, aren't exponents fun!?
These Currencies blow up so fast these days....
It was yesterday....
What's the problem, it's moving from the lower left to the upper right? Just be long of it, as 'Garts' would say.
true, if it where Apple Toys Inc. everybody would be chanting
No need to sweat it! Just turn your monitor 45 degrees to the right.
See? Now its all good.
FIFY
This is bullish. Just look at the ES up 2.5% today. Move along.
why not....
SPEND IT WHILE IT'S STILL WORTH SOMETHING!!!
Yes SD, and I spend the depreciating $ on accumulating Au and Ag, as I have since 2002 after the dot-com crash.
I thought Moodys just said debt to GDP would peak at 80% in 2014. Somebody might want to get Moodys an updated chart.
Moodys, in their infinte wisdom, only counts the debt held by the public.
Texas instruments... still made in America....
Americans don't need scientific calculators, just an iPad full of TMZ apps will do.
Too bad they didn't pass the Sandy relief bill... Timmy's games wouldn't have lasted a week... it would have been hilarious.
Yep. That's why they should have passed it; and added some tasty 'R' pork onto it too. Boehner has to go; he's the patsy at the table; and he's outta chips.
Oh wait.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/01/02/breaking-house-to-vote-on-sandy-aid-king-says/
Republican Rep. Peter King of New York said Wednesday that House Speaker John Boehner has promised a vote Friday on $9 billion in disaster aid for Superstorm Sandy and then another vote on $51 billion in aid on January 15.
Timmy's shorts are gonna be brown soon.
I postulate this very seriously. I really want to hear your theories.
It is hypothesized that if a person were to cross the event horizon of a black hole, he would feel nothing, but doom is certain. Is that where we are?
Use your imagination. How can this debt be solved? When do we begin to feel the pull of the black hole's gravity? 20 Trillion? when?
When Bondzilla shows up.
I reckon that this analogy could be applied to our current fiscal situation. The normal laws of physics get skewed as you get closer to the singularity, but the approach is exponential right? So, you might think everything is OK, but just a tad strange right up to the point where you get ripped apart atom by atom.
No imagination required. We have seen other large countries or unions collapse and break up before. Ours will be very similar.
My appologies. I'm looking for the catalyst, the switch, whatever, that actually causes the default.
I don't think you'd notice crossing an actual event horizon either because your frame of reference. You'd just all of a sudden be there.
The debt cannot be solved. It is not supposed to be solved.
It is the solution.
Now the problem of debt currency+interest, that is the problem.
The solution= More Debt.
If you put those glasses on, things become perfectly clear.
pods
ad infinitum ... one way trip to Zimbabwe?
There has to be a resolution, doesnt there have to be a default?
There is no solution with the current amount of debt. To get to the point where we simply aren't increasing debt (ie zero deficit + current outstanding debt) would take approximately a 34% cut in federal spending, and that's not counting any off-budget items, or increases in mandated spending (e.g. SS).
Just the cut alone would result in a depression-level decline in GDP. So the "solution" would be a 34% cut in spending, an instant depression, and a freeze on any additional SS spending, meaning current SS benefits would be divided across a growing pool of beneficiaries, and the checks would get progressively smaller as boomers rotated in. If we did all that, we could stay in the place we're are, but not crawl out of the hole.
Anything less than a zero deficit simply means the debt increases. Interest rates have to be close to zero for this to work at all. At 15% interest rates (those seen during the high inflation episode of late 70s/early 80s when Volker stepped in) our current debt would consume 100% of current federal tax revenue, with nothing left over for any spending whatsoever.
Any increase in interest rates accelerates the debt accumulation and point where it reaches the same as income. At 7% interest, the debt would cost $1T a year to service. Remember ll federal tax revenues are $2.5T, GDP is 15T, there's just not a lot of runway left here.
Ergo, until after the reset, we will never, ever again see interest rates far from zero. Which means when inflation happens, there will be no stopping it. And for the government to maintain purchasing power, it has to print even more (remember, it's the printing that causing the dilution of the dollar that leads to lost purchasing power.) We're in a positive feedback loop now, and the only escape are choices that today are considered too horrific to make -- and thus they won't be made.
You can see the posturing to create some sort of hybrid fascist/socialist state out of the wreckage, but I don't think TPTB that are planning this are comprending the size of the reset, and the fact that with a collapse economy, there won't be enough rewards to fascists or socialists to keep things going.
My bets are it falls apart 2015-2018. You can do all sorts of fun things with numerical modeling and assumptions, growth rates, etc. At current growth rates, our debt to GDP will be 200% by 2019, 400% by 2027. In the meantime the dollar is devaluing due to the printing -- how far can it be devalued before something breaks?
That's just the US. Don't forget Japan and Europe have their own issues -- any of which can demand a financial response from the US that triggers the final implosion.
These "economic" analyses can take one only so far. The Jew-Stalinist oligarchs and their goy stooges know economic collapse is coming fairly soon, after which they'll no longer be able to buy consent with debt issuance. That's why the gun grab: hard to gulag people who can shoot back. I expect the Grab w/in 60 days of Obama's inaug, shortly followed by 1,2,3...many Ruby Ridges/Wacos. Then flat out, hot Civil War: Right vs Left, Race vs. Race, Rural vs. Urban, States vs. Center. We don't have 3 years to prepare...3 months if we're lucky. Invest in lead. If you can find any.
Don't sweat it, we're all Keynnsian now.
I think the Vapors said it best.
http://youtu.be/gEmJ-VWPDM4
An awesome tune by the Vapors indeed. Perhaps more fitting prose from Iron Maiden, "The Wickerman",
Irony BRitChez - some serious Guitar :)
"You watch the world exploding every single night
Dancing in the sun a newborn in the light
Brothers and their fathers joining hands and make a chain
The shadow of the Wicker Man is rising up again
Your time will come, your time will come
Your time will come, your time will come"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLIu3DvUbiI
>> we apply the roughly 1.5% annualized GDP growth to Q4 GDP
That's <i>real</i> GDP. Don't forget Zimbabwe Ben's contribution of ~2% devaluation.
Bankrupt baby.
The U.S. has now gained another #1 distinction... Global Banana Republic.
I hope the clothing will be cheaper than the normal Banana Republic.
Lest, anyone forget, MY MAIN MAN, is keeping score here!!
I dare Anyone, to attempt to fudge the number's
I hate it when the Rating Agencys and the Market try to get the Congress and Senate to do their bidding thru the threat of Downgrades or lowered Stock Prices.
Trying to influence proper Fiscal Policy based on their view of the US Debt is outrageous.
Ben and Timmy have plans to transfer that debt to 16.4 billion Visa 0% introductory offer credit cards. Problem solved for 180 days!
The 29.9% Penalty Rate next June's a bitch though...
I got a down arrow for that? WTF? Not funny (enough?) I guess. Next time, I'll add more snark.
They would just need bigger limos to carry all these credit cards.
Timmyyyyyyy will have a problem soon enough :
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/01/02/breaking-house-to-vote-o...
Republican Rep. Peter King of New York said Wednesday that House Speaker John Boehner has promised a vote Friday on $9 billion in disaster aid for Superstorm Sandy and then another vote on $51 billion in aid on January 15.
How much money can Timmy steal from the government pension funds? More than $60 billion? He better hope so or else... things could get hilarious real fast.
About $300B from the G-Fund; then there's a smaller .gov worker fund of about $50B. We are on a run rate of $122B of deficit per month for the first three months of this FY; Oct-Dec; so on or about April 1 through 10 before TSHTF. There's also a State and Local Construction Bond guarantee program they can suspend; but that would bring road construction projects in bad credit states like CA and IL to a screeching halt just in time for Spring; thousands of 'shovel ready' jobs would be un-saved or dis-created. States with 'good' credit ratings could probably finance their own, w/o FedGov guarantees. Suspending that program in the Spring could probably buy another week or two.
Sandy Relief would bump time forward though a couple of weeks to mid-to-end of March, instead.
It's gonna be epic.
Reinhart & Rogoff will be proven right once again.
Once a nation breaches the ~80% debt to GDP ratio, they have passed the point of no return towards default.
The US will default, only after the confetti money printing has made US debt totally worthless.
FORWARD, soviet!
I want it to happen during Obama's term so all those statists slaves Obamabots cry their eyes out and harakiri when they realized they have been fools all this time... it'll be hilarious.
I'm afraid when that happens, we'll all be too busy trying to stay alive in some "Walking Dead" scenario where we're ducking bullets and practicing ditch medicine because civilization has collapsed.
No time for schadenfreude.
There's always room for Jello ... and brains!
Zapdude: "Reinhart & Rogoff will be proven right once again.
Once a nation breaches the ~80% debt to GDP ratio, they have passed the point of no return towards default.
The US will default, only after the confetti money printing has made US debt totally worthless.
FORWARD, soviet!"
Little o'l Irelands is 1093% apparantely. Do we have a prayer?
It works great for the Japanese - I'm sure it will work here. as long as those yields are this low, take the Money Benny! take it 'til the rate hits 6
So by dropping the penny from production, does the total go down to .10, or up to .15?
This is very important.
Why do I keep getting CougarLife.com ads? Is ZeroHedge trying to get me to stop worrying about US debt?
Looks like a chart of AAPL for 10/1/11 - 09/30/12
Have you fellas seen Krugman's latest?
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/02/debt-in-a-time-of-zero/
I think the stress is getting to him.
Attack, gentlemen - attack!
Always thought Krugman would feel quite proud standing in front of the military reviewing stand in a socialist nation. The faster he destroys the US and it's constitution the sooner he gets to bask in the light of the new world order.
US GDP: $15T
$122B/Month, annualized: $1.5T ($1.46 rounded up for simplicity)
So we're now adding 10% of the GDP to debt every year, or another way to look at it, supporting GDP by printing to the tune of 10% per year.
No way out of this one. And were that spending to go away -- instant depression.
“Fools that will laugh on earth, must weep in hell.”
Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus
There was a time when we were running a surplus. Anybody remember that?
Yup, that was smoke and mirrors as well.
Clinton?
No - that was horseshit... just an accounting trick using your social security taxes.
{sorry}
US debt is irrelevant. PODS had a very good post, debt is the solution when you have a debt based currency. The problem is confidence, if that collapses so does the system. That is why they are manipulating gold so much. However, they soon must start manipulating corn, oil, soybeans, milk, cement, water, and all those other real things that can`t be printed up ... unless you have a 3d printer.
Silver<del><del><del><del><del><del>Corn.
Done.
More debt means more money, since money is a receipt of debt. Too bad the banks are the only ones who get all the money from Bernanke. They will subsidize food when prices get too high; just like they are currently doing with milk.
Long 3D printers........
...and counting bitches, yes counting more to the debt every day....
OK, Two QUESTIONS to end ALL QUESTIONS.
Who lent all this money, and where did they get it to give it in the first place?
;) The debt is meaningless.
The Fed authorizes the debt. The Fed loves the debt to go up and up because when the day comes that America can't pay on the debt, FDR gave the Fed the power to take every inch of land in America; whether it be public or private.
It's nothing but the Feds interpretation of the fiscal cliff, inflated since 1913. We should all be wishing him happy birthday according to his thinking.
It's all monopoly money any way *shrug*
Inflation so bad you can't get a decent hooker for 5 bucks anymore
$16T+? I didn't build that! Not one single FRN of it.
......................Serfs Up...........................
And the Rothschilds smile :0)
Here's an interesting video I'm watching:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUc8-GUC1hY&feature=youtu.be
Kyle Bass on what happens when debt reaches 20x tax revenue.
This new number has no meaningfull consequences. It would be 20 trillion as it does not matter to the "person on the street." UNTILL THERE ARE CONSEQUENCES, IT'S JUST NUMBER ONLY.
The debt of the Federal government is just huge, probably the US is at first place among all the countries with developed economy. And this debt grows with every minutes because no one tries to eliminate it and make it lower. How can the economy be healthy if borrowing money and using payday loans in hour has become a lifestyle for the US? Everybody has debts today. But I think that the debt of the Federal Government doesn’t let the economy to develop and keep us at the same place, we do not go any further. Until we have this problem it will be hard to see any economic progress.