It's official -- $16,000,000,000,000.00 in US debt

[doom&gloom]

Man that's a lot of zeros...

[peakishmael]

Re: It's official -- $16,000,000,000,000.00 in US debt

Hmmm... only about $50,000 for every man, woman and child in the U.S. And private debt is way more than that. Problem?

[charliebrown]

Re: It's official -- $16,000,000,000,000.00 in US debt

What is the new debt ceiling? When does the kabuki dance start with raising the limit. will it be like last time with threats of shutting down the gvt?
Is it too close to the election to take a risk like that?

[Gnosis]

Re: It's official -- $16,000,000,000,000.00 in US debt

Wow! "That's a whole helicopter full!
~Uncle Ben

[mmr]

Re: It's official -- $16,000,000,000,000.00 in US debt

The debt ceiling is $16,394 billion. (Almost lost track of my units and wrote $16,394 million - wouldn't that be nice.)

At a monthly deficit of between $100 and $150 billion, they should be able to make it through the election but probably not through inauguration. From what I recall when the government was approaching the ceiling last summer, they can defer $100-$200 billion of certain expenses to buy a little more time.

[gwynedd1]

Re: It's official -- $16,000,000,000,000.00 in US debt

I'll worry when the deleveraging stops.

[Adeptus]

Re: It's official -- $16,000,000,000,000.00 in US debt

1) I think it's time for Remy to update his rap video from July 2011.
He's still going on about 14 Trillion in debt...

2) And just in case you missed it... The Debt Bomb music video (warning: naked ladies involved!!)
http://www.itulip.com/forums/showthr...b-announcement

3) Oh heck while we're at it.. my fave from Juice News Media:

[bpr]

Re: It's official -- $16,000,000,000,000.00 in US debt

For how long can kick the can economics continue? It seems to be indefinite, barring a military intervention from a worthy couterparty (e.g. China).

Otherwise these numbers are as meaningless as the price of gas or bread, no?

[bungee]

Re: It's official -- $16,000,000,000,000.00 in US debt

$16 trillion - why worry? One of these notes will sort out the problem with cash to spare.



Oh to be a fly on the wall when the US representative hands one over to China to settle in full the outstanding debt.

[Sutter Cane]

Re: It's official -- $16,000,000,000,000.00 in US debt

Woody Guthrie:

The national debit is one thing I caint figger out. I heard a senator on a radio a saying that we owed somebody 16 jillion dollers. I don't know their name, but I remember the price. Called it the national debit. If the nation is the government and the government is the people, then I guess the people owes the people, that means I owe me and you owe you, and I forget the regular fee, but if I owe myself something, I would be a willing just to call it off rather than have the senaters argue about it, and I know you would do the same and then we wouldn't have no national debit.

http://peoplesworld.org/woody-guthri...int-figger-out

[Raz]

Re: It's official -- $16,000,000,000,000.00 in US debt

Unfortunately for the United States, the average voter has no more knowledge of economics and the federal fiscal situation than did Woodie Guthrie.

[dcarrigg]

Re: It's official -- $16,000,000,000,000.00 in US debt

Unfortunately for the United States, the average voter has no more knowledge of economics and the federal fiscal situation than did Woodie Guthrie.

In a sense, Guthrie is somewhat correct.

About a third of the debt (~$5T) is intragovernmental - money the federal government owes to itself in one form or another. That was the vast majority of it in his time. In fact, it was the majority before the financial crisis too.

Today things are a bit different. The remaining $11T is half-owned by foreign sources (~$6T). The other half (~$5T) is owned by domestic sources - the federal reserve, pension funds, bondholders, and most prominently, big US banks.

[gwynedd1]

Re: It's official -- $16,000,000,000,000.00 in US debt

Debts are meaningless until you identify how much, the form that it is in, and who holds the asset. All government debts must be private assets somewhere. If the debt was divided up equally among American citizens it would mean very little even if it were 100 trillion. The only people who wouldn't like it are creditors.

[flintlock]

Re: It's official -- $16,000,000,000,000.00 in US debt

In a sense, Guthrie is somewhat correct.

About a third of the debt (~$5T) is intragovernmental - money the federal government owes to itself in one form or another. That was the vast majority of it in his time. In fact, it was the majority before the financial crisis too.

Today things are a bit different. The remaining $11T is half-owned by foreign sources (~$6T). The other half (~$5T) is owned by domestic sources - the federal reserve, pension funds, bondholders, and most prominently, big US banks.

Yeah, just some old pensioners. Who cares? Let em starve.