The U.S. Treasury reported on Tuesday that as of Friday, Aug. 31, U.S. debt had officially exceeded $16 trillion.
“This is a grim landmark for the United States,” said Senate Budget Committee Ranking Member Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) in a statement. “The gross debt of our federal government will, for the first time, surpass $16 trillion. That’s more government debt per person than Portugal, Italy, Spain, or Greece.”
The Alabama senator’s office released the following chart to help illustrate where we stand as a nation in terms of our debt:
Here are the official Treasury figures on government spending and debt (last six digits are eliminated). The government’s fiscal year runs Oct. 1 through Sept. 30:
- Total public debt subject to limit Aug. 31: $15,976,711
- Statutory debt limit: $16,394,000
- Total public debt outstanding Aug. 31: $16,015,770
- Operating balance Aug. 31: $30,121
- Interest fiscal year 2012 through July: $215,183
- Interest same period 2011: $212,927
- Deficit fiscal year 2012 through July: $973,840
- Deficit same period 2011: $1,099,902
Courtesy Sen. Sessions’ office, here are some other noteworthy bullet points:
- Federal debt at the end of the current fiscal year will stand at $16.2 trillion — $6.2 trillion above where it was 4 years earlier.
- In the last 4 years, the debt increased by more than it did in the previous 17 years.
- In 2011, Harry Reid said it would be “foolish” to pass a budget.
- In 2012, Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad announced that the Committee would be marking up a budget. Just days later, that markup was cancelled.
- Earlier this year, Reid announced, “We do not need to bring a budget to the floor this year.”
- Since the Democrat Senate last passed a budget, the U.S. has spent $11.2 trillion and added $4.8 trillion in debt.
“We are on a dramatically unsustainable path,” the senator’s statement reads. “[T]his crisis cannot be ducked. By failing to outline any serious plan for the financial future of this country, Democrats who run the Senate and the White House have no basis on which to ask to be kept in their majority.”
“The nation is in desperate need of strong executive leadership to end the financial chaos, restore discipline to government, and lead us to an economic renaissance,” the statement adds.
Follow Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) on Twitter
(H/T: CNS News). The AP contributed to this report. This story has been updated.





















































































































Comments (65)
Grand design
Sep. 4, 2012 at 7:44pmCongratulations Democrats, you finally made it! I know that you worked long and hard to get there and now you made it to Sixteen Trillion Dollars of debt! Job well done!
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KURT1010
Sep. 5, 2012 at 7:18amIf I write a bad check and have no funds in my account I would go to jail !
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davecorkery
Sep. 5, 2012 at 2:21pmI hope others are like you and me, with our heads up our *****. If anyone realizes that brother george bush almost doubled the debt when he was in, we’re going to look stupid. Really, really stupid.
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elfettig
Sep. 11, 2012 at 3:52pm@DAVECORKERY
Yes, but Bush was in office for eight years. Obama added 5 trillion to our Federal debt in 3.5 years, which is the same amount as the increase in debt during Bush’s entire presidency.
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TRILO
Sep. 4, 2012 at 6:25pmYes, TOTUS doubled the deficit in 4 years where it took Bush 8 years to increase it by $5T. Deficit spending is deficit spending no matter what party is doing it.
John Boehner has indicated that the Republicans will once again raise debt limit when they return from recess. The Republicans have continued to vote for the increases over the past 4 years, including Paul Ryan. They are ALL responsible for the problem! I am tired of each party blaming the other when BOTH vote for the same debt ceiling increases and deficit spend.
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davecorkery
Sep. 5, 2012 at 2:25pmDon’t worry. Very soon, they will stop borrowing. Because the lenders will stop lending. (Greece, anyone?). THEN whoever is in power will be able to run a balanced budget, since they will only have the money coming in, and they will have the evil banks to blame.
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mersey
Sep. 4, 2012 at 6:00pmNothing to see here progressives! Assume the position, head up your own arse.
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RamonPreston
Sep. 4, 2012 at 5:56pmWe’re going to pay that 16 Trillion out of the “Obama stash.” (Would be better if it was out of Obama’s azz.)
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Meyvn
Sep. 4, 2012 at 5:43pmThis debt really makes us proud.
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EyesUSA
Sep. 4, 2012 at 5:27pmThis deficit is on purpose. Obama is trying to destroy America. Go see, “2016: Obama’s America”
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Tigress1
Sep. 4, 2012 at 5:35pmObama only added $5 TRILLION to that debt. He won’t be satisfied until it hits $30 trillion.
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Rothbardian_in_the_Cleve
Sep. 4, 2012 at 5:41pmIt took over 200 years for the first 1Tr. in national debt to come to pass. It took only 261 days for the last 1Tr. to get on the books. How ’bout them apples eh?
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CatB
Sep. 4, 2012 at 6:39pmi agree .. EVERYONE needs to see 2016 … even if you think you know … even what you know .. it puts it all together … and shows us our future under Obama .. and YOU WON”T LIKE IT!
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jacobstroubles
Sep. 4, 2012 at 5:03pmohhhh boooo whoo…they were trying so hard to keep this underwraps as of Friday..so another ugly head of truth..would pop up for their big opening day.. oohhhhhhhhhh boooo whooooo
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Shasta
Sep. 4, 2012 at 5:01pmIf I am reading this correctly, the deficit for fiscal year 2012 through July was down over the same period last year by $126,062. Even though that is a drop in the deficit bucket, I would still offer my congrats, except that pulling all of our troops out of Iraq should have accomplished a major reduction in deficit spending, but it did not. So it is just more of the same. But OBlamo still has a few months to make good on his promise of reducing the deficit in half by the end of his first term. I am guessing he meant he would increase it by half. At least that is close to the truth.
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watersRpeople
Sep. 4, 2012 at 4:54pmI don’t find myself having much mercy for people lately.
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watersRpeople
Sep. 4, 2012 at 4:53pmOh yeah it’s gonna keep on going until you are flipping silver and gold into the streets.
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Rothbardian_in_the_Cleve
Sep. 4, 2012 at 4:52pmIn all seriousness, it doesn’t matter now. It will NEVER be repaid. It simply can’t be done under the current government construct. We either print (steal it from wealth), borrow till the cows come home and default (steal it from wealth and income), or we restructure everything and start over (revolutions…gasp there’s that dirty word).
Y’all can pretend like elections matter. They don’t anymore. In 2011 we spent 650B in INTEREST!!!!! It’s hard to nail it down exactly because the portfolio rate of all the terms is never really easy to see, but if interest rates on the 10 year got to around 6% which we’ve seen many times then the interest expense alone would get close to 1 Trillion dollars. 8%? 1.5 Trillion 10% like we saw in the 80′s? 2 Trillion dollars in interest expense. It will take 39 years of record surplus to pay back just the debt. To pay back the unfunded liabilities it will tat 339 years. This is all if interest rates don’t go up….for 380 years or so.
The die have already been cast. Our fate is written. Only WE can have a say in what rises from the ashes. The sooner we stop buying the propaganda the two sides spew out is the sooner we can default and then restore a constitutional republic.
OR
Maybe y’all can come to Texas and we can secede. (my personal favorite option)
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MODEL82A1
Sep. 4, 2012 at 5:00pmDungeon Master, Good luck with your Anarchistic Capitalism Experiment in your New Republic of Texas, Lol! What a fool!
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justangry
Sep. 4, 2012 at 5:07pm@Rothbard, How much do you think a war with Iran will cost?
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Rothbardian_in_the_Cleve
Sep. 4, 2012 at 5:09pm@Model82,
I know you can’t really grasp economics…that’s why you work on the fry station at McDonalds. You might want to leave the math to the grown-ups. Go back to sleep now. Everything will be fine. Don’t worry your little head. It will all be okay.
Ding, fries are done. Better get that.
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RANGER1965
Sep. 4, 2012 at 5:09pmThere are 2 options.
(1) Continue as we are until there is a massive collapse. (Nightmare Apocolyptic Scenerio)
(2) Handle it like a Bankruptcy. Our creditors will howl at getting 20 cents on the dollar. Our credit will be shot for at least 3 years, and not recover to it’s former glory for at least another 20 years. America will be poor for awile, things will suck. In some cases really bad. But this suckiness will likely have the effect of making America and it’s leaders, much more gun shy about debt. Who knows we might get some reasonable reform based on free market principles, (that might be too much optimism).
But the nightmare collapse scenerio isn’t worth thinking about, because it won’t be like a really bad bankruptcy, it’ll be more like the collapse of American civilization, and big chunks of the world. So it’s not really a reasonable option.
Then again, America is not a nation of collective reason anymore.
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Rothbardian_in_the_Cleve
Sep. 4, 2012 at 5:10pm@Just,
Hey man, long time no talk.
Hmmmm, as much as we need it to? It only takes one snowflake to start an avalanche I suppose.
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Rothbardian_in_the_Cleve
Sep. 4, 2012 at 5:23pm@Ranger,
That’s only part of the solution don’t you think? Sure you can pay back creditors at 20¢ on the dollar. However, you are going to still have to collect taxes from people who are now bankrupt because the assets that they had aren’t worth anything anymore….ie if you have investment portfolios. So the revenue for the 20 cents is not forthcoming.
But, you still must address the expense side of the ledger. You have to go from spending 2.5 Trillion dollars to what?…1Tr? Less? What happens when the sheep don’t get the checks? You think they sit there and take it?
I’d offer that there is no soft landing. Maybe I’m wrong. But you’re right, they’ll print so long as the market allows them to. How long that will be is anyone’s guess. Despite the low interest rates and the export of said inflation…sooner or later it comes back. The world isn’t going to eat our print forever. The BRIC’s already trade in local currency or SDR’s. When the dollar is done because people don’t want our inflation, the print effect is felt at home. We go Weimar.
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KickinBack
Sep. 4, 2012 at 4:48pmThe debt hits 16 tril on the 1st day of the Dem’s convention. Oh the irony of it..
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Eric_The_Red_State
Sep. 4, 2012 at 4:48pmIt’s obvious – we need to spend more.
PRINT more money –
CREATE an EMERGENCY and then nobody will be able to stop you.
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Larry E
Sep. 4, 2012 at 4:48pmThis can’t be true! I heard some Demorat klown say how Glorious Leader had reduced the deficit by over a trillion bucks! They wouldn’t lie to us would they? Nah, didn’t think so.
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Eric_The_Red_State
Sep. 4, 2012 at 4:45pmObama hasn’t got a leg to stand on –
Obama promised he would not sign a healthcare bill version that would add one dime to the federal deficit. Obviously, the passed Obamacare bill blows that claim out the water.
In February 2009, Obama claimed he would cut the deficit in half.
As the USA Today showed, the actual federal deficit under Obama in just 2011 was $5 trillion, if one disregards the budgeting gimmick of discounting government pension programs, like Social Security, Medicare and other retirement programs, which ran red ink of around $3.7 trillion.
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Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Sep. 4, 2012 at 4:49pmNo he has no leg to stand on; just remember that he does not care if the system collapses or not. He is to the core a narcissist and a communist; the nation is his enemy and thus has to be reduced and in the end destroyed.
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Rothbardian_in_the_Cleve
Sep. 4, 2012 at 4:53pmSnow,
It’s gonna collapse. It’s a mathematical certainty at this point. It’s a matter of when. It’s like musical chairs…who’s gonna be sitting in the throne when the music stops?
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MODEL82A1
Sep. 4, 2012 at 5:04pmWow! Listen to the Dungeon Master, “Mathematical Certainty at this point”. Man, that’s IMPRESSIVE! He’s obviously an Economic and Mathematical expert! I’d sure like to see his data sources, formulae and proofs….. Won’t be holding my breath for that.
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Rothbardian_in_the_Cleve
Sep. 4, 2012 at 5:17pmHey model,
It’s called a calculator/excel you dolt. Maybe you should have stayed in school.
You can find all the data you need in spreadsheet form at the BLS and IRS and the Treasury and GAO and CBO and OMB and ironically at the Fed.
You might want to look up some time value of money calculations because interest can be tricky you know. And I’m pretty sure you ain’t gonna have enough fingers and toes.
Maybe you should go grabe Time2 before you reply and he can talk about how fiat currency = fractional reserve banking. You are like tweedle dee and tweedle dumb. You can’t even Wiki to try and put up the impression that you could hold an economic conversation.
You know they say that it’s better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. After your done counting on your toes why don’t you stick your foot back in your mouth.
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justangry
Sep. 4, 2012 at 6:35pm@Model do you ever offer anything other than attempting to trash Libertarians and Constitutionalists? I’m sorry, but I’m really getting tired of you and your ilk’s adolescent behavior. Rothbardian is obviously intelligent and has a good grasp on the economy. You’re getting good free information if you’d put aside your arrogance and listen rather than childishly attack everyone that doesn’t agree with you. From as far as I can tell Rothbard and Ranger are both good people with different views. Their discussion can only help, but you feel the need to bud in and lob insults at the “Paulbot”. Even if you disagree, most of the liberty movement folks are good people that love the country. Quit being a dick.
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Exidor
Sep. 4, 2012 at 4:42pmThere’s your Hope and Change
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SCREW-WINDOWS
Sep. 4, 2012 at 5:04pmSome one in China is a little happier.
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TexasCommonSense
Sep. 4, 2012 at 4:41pmHyper inflation is coming. Prepare your family.
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Rothbardian_in_the_Cleve
Sep. 4, 2012 at 4:55pmIf only that were all. A massive reset is coming. When? Wish I knew. Don’t go from being a serf in this model to a serf in the next one.
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davecorkery
Sep. 5, 2012 at 2:34pmCan’t happen. Inflation continues when people have more and more money to spend. We had it last time (early 80′s) because the gov. borrowed money to pay the salary increases, which made it worse. What might be coming is Deflation, where nobody spends, so prices get lower and lower (because people have so little cash), until stock of goods runs out. Then it gets worse.
The next writer is right. A huge correction is coming, where credit is gone, and you only spend what you have, or do without. Get ready and brace yourself. I’m optimistic that we will be resilient enough to get over it. You won’t need to keep up with the jones’. We’ll be happy with an apple in our Xmas stocking.
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Optimist4now
Sep. 4, 2012 at 4:41pmAlmost speechless! Let’s spend some money on entitlements — if we can buy more votes, we can spend more money.
If I didn’t know better, I would strongly suggest that my ex-wife was actually running this country.
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Gonzo
Sep. 4, 2012 at 4:41pmWe’re #1! USA,USA,USA…
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Mutiny
Sep. 4, 2012 at 4:38pmPerfect!!! We are not going to grow out of the debt. Both parties seem to think so. We dont even have a real problem yet because interest rates are being held by force low. Once the market tries to correct it, we will either collapse or see our debt really skyrocket then collapse.
Its not a matter of if, its a matter of when we collapse.
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13th Imam
Sep. 4, 2012 at 4:46pmIf only the Rue Paul / Gary Johnson ticket was viable, everything would be hunky dory.
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MODEL82A1
Sep. 4, 2012 at 4:48pmMUTINY, And the feeble minded like you will be the first to be victimized after the collapse. So at least we have that going for us. Something to look forward to, anyway.
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MODEL82A1
Sep. 4, 2012 at 4:52pm13th, Yup, Dismantling the US Military and returning to the Gold Standard would square us right away. And, of course, Congress would write and pass100% of the legislation Paul/Johnson would request. Lol! Man, those Lefty Paulbots are NUTS!!!!
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Mutiny
Sep. 4, 2012 at 5:04pm@model
Yeah, you are right, I am the one ignoring facts and not listening.
Actually I would consider myself and family prepped. I actually would feel a bit sorry for the people trying to victimize us. We are Mississippians. Hunting, fishing, farming, and shooting are what we do for fun.
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ThePostman
Sep. 4, 2012 at 4:36pmLooks like it is just a couple of weeks before congress has to raise the debt ceiling. I bet they try to do it quietly, and I bet they fail (at doing it quietly, they WILL do it, though).
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floridareader
Sep. 4, 2012 at 4:36pmMark my post (or words?) that is G. Bush’ fault!
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Jenny Lind
Sep. 4, 2012 at 4:36pm(foot stomping, arms waving) YEAH US!
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eyestoseeearstohear
Sep. 4, 2012 at 4:34pmWell, I imagine Obama and the Dems are celebrating this.
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CatB
Sep. 4, 2012 at 4:40pmThey should be .. THEY BUILT THIS … we could not have done this without the Dems giving every lowlife in and out of the country our money.
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Tri-ox
Sep. 4, 2012 at 4:34pm“We tried our plan, and it worked!” – Emperor B. Hussein’O
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netmail
Sep. 4, 2012 at 4:47pmWhen responding to the question: “How do you intend on destroying America Mr President?”
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