We Owe

35999792936928.49


Your Share of the National Debt

104597.54 per citizen
or
270907.62 for your household

Why Does Debt Matter?

  • At first it will seem like nothing is happening, but the reality is that the debt will begin to snowball and become a larger and larger portion of our economy. More of your tax money will go to pay interest on the debt, and less will go to fund things that the government should be funding.
  • Interest rates will rise as the United States' debt becomes a larger portion of our economy. Increased interest rates will increase deficits and debt.
  • Politicians who attempt to tax their way out of debt will find there is not enough tax money in the world to cover their promises.
  • Higher taxes will dampen economic growth, compounding the debt problem.
  • Politicians in Washington will attempt to buy your votes with "benefits" that they will claim "someone else" will pay for. In reality, whatever comes from Washington is paid for by YOU and me. There is no such thing as a free lunch.

What Can Be Done?

  • Cut spending. Extreme spending in Washington results in higher debt levels. Even returning to 2008 spending levels, which no one was complaining about at the time, would nearly balance the budget. Note that even completely eliminating the entire defense budget would still leave nearly $400 billion in deficit spending for 2011. Cutting defense spending in half would leave nearly $800 billion in deficit spending.
  • Increase economic growth. By growing the economy, more people will be working and paying taxes. Fewer people will be collecting "benefits." Pro-growth policies help reduce deficits.
  • Support lower, flatter, tax policies to encourage growth. Investment means jobs. Jobs mean work for you and me. The FairTax or Flat Tax will increase growth and decrease costs resulting in more jobs and more income.
  • Recognize calls for higher taxes for what they are - class warfare used to divide people. Divisions help those among us who are power-hungry. Taxes means money that power-hungry polticians in Washington can then use to attempt to bribe you to vote for them to "get something for free."
  • Recognize class warfare as a trick to get the naive and uninformed to vote a particular way. Remember that even confiscating 100% of the income AND *assets* of all the billionaires in the United States would barely cover 1/3 of the annual Federal Budget. And you could only do it once.
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The United States has two choices regarding all government spending. The United States can get spending under control voluntarily or the government can wait until it is too late and be forced to do so. Whether we acknowledge it now or not, current spending levels will result in insolvency. Either way, spending will come down in real terms. We can either set the terms ourselves or wait and have them set by someone else. The economy can not support the promises made by politicians in Washington who are trying to buy your votes with your own tax money.

In the long run, you can not consume more than you produce. Eventually politicians run out of other people's money to spend.

Listen to George Washington:

"There is no practice more dangerous than that of borrowing money; for when money can be had in this way, repayment is seldom thought of in time, the interest becomes a loss, exertions to raise it be dent of industry cease, it comes easy and is spent freely, and many things [are] indulged in that would never be thought of if [they were] to be purchased by the sweat of the brow." George Washington

Add a US National Debt Clock to your website
Other United States National Debt clocks:
USA Debt Clocks | US Debt Clock | Debt-Clocks.com |
Notes on methodology:
Debt-Clocks.org uses the most current figures from the United States Treasury for the United States National Debt and the most current population numbers from the United States Census bureau. Consequently, you may, rarely, see the National Debt decrease between one day and the next due to items such as tax payments. Most debt clocks, with some exceptions linked to above, merely use averages between the beginning of the United States Federal Government fiscal year and the end of the fiscal year. While an accurate method in order to raise awareness of the debt, their day-to-day numbers for the United States National Debt will be different than the calculations here.

As of the end of the day on 11/19/2024/ the United States National Debt subject to limit stood at exactly 35992291043718.85 according to the US Treasury.
The National Debt is increasing at 4334933376.00 per day or 50172.84 per second since the beginning of the fiscal year.
The current population is approximately 344174385.69231 people based on US Census calculations.

Values are current as of Wed, 20 Nov 2024 17:32:01 EST(the time in Washington DC).