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The United States has the largest external debt in the world. The total number of U.S. Treasury securities held by foreign entities in December 2021 was $7.7 trillion, up from $7.1 trillion in December 2020. [8] Total US federal government debt breached the $30 trillion mark for the first time in history in February 2022. [9]
According to the Congressional Budget Office, the United States last had a budget surplus during fiscal year 2001, though the national debt still increased. [47] From fiscal years 2001 to 2009, spending increased by 6.5% of gross domestic product (from 18.2% to 24.7%) while taxes declined by 4.7% of GDP (from 19.5% to 14.8%).
The total federal debt is divided into "debt held by the public" and "intra-governmental debt." The debt held by the public refers to U.S. government securities or other obligations held by investors (e.g., bonds, bills, and notes), while Social Security and other federal trust funds are part of the intra-governmental debt.
The first is that annual deficits have exploded, leaving the nation with a gargantuan $34.6 trillion in total federal debt, 156% higher than the national debt at the end of 2010.
As a result of this economic mismanagement, the U.S. government will pay close to $900 billion this year just in interest payments on the national debt—and, according to Congressional Budget ...
The US government’s debt has topped $34 trillion for the first time, just weeks ahead of deadlines for Congress to agree to new federal funding plans.
In 1970, the United States government spent just over $80 billion on national defense. Over the next two decades, national defense spending increased steadily to around $300 billion per year. [10] Military spending fell in the 1990s, but increased markedly in the 2000s as a result of the War in Afghanistan and Iraq.
In fact, you’d have to go back to 1837 to find the last time the United States was debt-free. Texas was still an independent republic and only 26 states existed. So how big is the debt, really?