US Ends 2016 With $19.98 Trillion In Federal Debt; Up $1,054,647,941,626.91
By Tyler Durden
On the last day of calendar 2016, total US public debt jumped by $98 billion, mostly as a result of end of quarter Social Security debt allocation, which accounted for $70.4 billion of the daily increase. As a result, total US government debt on December 30, 2016 was $19,976,826,951,047.80.
This compares to $18,922,179,009,420.89 on the last day of 2015 and means that the increase in US federal debt in 2016 was just over $1 trillion, or $1,054,647,941,626.91 to be specific.
Putting this increase in context, during Barack Obama’s time in office, federal debt has increased by $9,349,949,902,134.72, or 88%, rising from $10,626,877,048,913.08 on Jan. 20, 2009, the day of Obama’s inauguration to $19,976,826,951,047.80 on the last day of 2016.
That equals $78,553.84 for each of the 119,026,000 households in the country as of September.
Our condolences to anyone who doubted that Obama would be able to hit $20 trillion in Federal debt before leaving the White House.
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For a somewhat amusing take on this disturbing statistics, here is Simon Black with: “US national debt soars by $100 billion. . . in just 8 hours”
According to the latest statement issued yesterday afternoon by the Department of Treasury, the US national debt has reached $19,976,826,951,047.80.
That’s $19.976 trillion, as of the close of business on Friday December 30, 2016.
(The government is typically a day or two behind when it sends out these reports.)
That number itself is obviously remarkable, just shy of $20 trillion.
But what’s even more astounding is that, according to the Treasury Department’s own figures, they STARTED the day with a debt level of ‘just’ $19.879 trillion.
So literally in the span of a single 8-hour workday, the US government amassed an astonishing $97 billion in debt.
That’s simply incredible– $97 billion is larger than the entire GDP of New Mexico or Luxembourg. In 8 hours.
I review these reports every single day. Needless to say, an increase of this magnitude occurs… almost never.
And when I saw it yesterday afternoon, the “Holy Shit!” that came out of my mouth caused a rush of staff into my office asking “What happened?!?”
As I recovered from my shock, I explained that the US federal government had increased its debt by nearly $100 billion in a single day, to which one of them asked,
“What did they buy?”
I thought it a brilliant question, almost child-like in its simplicity. Indeed. What did they buy?
How many aircraft carriers did they purchase?
How many colonies on Mars did they build?
Did President $20,000,000,000,000BAMA acquire a controlling stake in the Walt Disney corporation on behalf of the taxpayers of the United States?
Did Congress suddenly recapitalize the FDIC, or any one of the half-dozen insolvent US trust funds?
Perhaps they fixed a decent portion of the nation’s crumbling infrastructure.
Or maybe they just decided to send a check for almost $1,000 to every household in America.
Nope. None of the above.
The reality is that these people indebted every single taxpayer, including future generations of taxpayers who won’t even be born for decades, with …read more
Source: US Ends 2016 With $19.98 Trillion In Federal Debt; Up $1,054,647,941,626.91
