U.S. national debt ceiling raised : $14,3 trillion

As for the deficit, CBO shows that over the first three years of the Obama Presidency, 2009-2011, the federal government will borrow an estimated $3.7 trillion.  That is more than the entire accumulated national debt for the first 225 years of U.S. history.

We can hope: "Do you think maybe one term is enough?" -- ABC's Diane Sawyer to Barack Obama (No, it's one term too many.)  [source: http://patriotpost.us/edition/2010/01/27/chronicle/]

reposted from The Swamp
http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2010/01/us_debt_ceiling_raised_143_tri.html

U.S. debt ceiling raised: $14,3 trillion

by Mark Silva posted Posted January 28, 2010

Congratulations, your credit limit has been increased.

To $14.3 trillion.

In one of the last hurrahs for the Senate Democrats' waning 60-vote super-majority, the Senate today voted 60-39 to raise the authorized ceiling on the accrued national debt by $1.9 trillion.

The measure places the government on track for a $14.3 trillion debt, sparing the majority another vote on the question before the midterm elections in November.

The Congressional Budget Office this week reported that the U.S. this year could run an annual deficit nearly matching last year's record $1.4-trillion shortfall. The estimate: $1.35 trillion.

To secure the votes of moderate Democrats, President Obama has promised to appoint, by executive power, a task force to devise a plan for dealing with the spiraling debt. And to corral the support of moderate "Blue Dog" Democrats in a House vote next week, the measure includes tough new "pay-as-you-go" budget rules to make it harder to run up the deficit with new tax cuts or federal benefit programs.

photo source:  http://patriotpost.us/edition/2010/01/27/chronicle/

Posted by Mark Silva on January 28, 2010 3:30 PM at
http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2010/01/printer-us_debt_ceiling_raised_143_tri.html
© 2008 [Chicago] Tribune Interactive [The Tribune's Washington Bureau]

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How much is 1.9 trillion?  No matter how you look at it, it's a lot

The Associated Press Posted Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2010 on
http://www.star-telegram.com/238/story/1909560.html © Star-Telegram.com®

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats on Wednesday proposed allowing the federal government to borrow an additional $1.9 trillion to pay its bills, a record increase that would permit the national debt to reach $14.3 trillion.

So, how big is a trillion? Very.

A 1.9 trillion-mile trip is about the same as 8 million trips to the moon.  And 1.9 trillion feet would take you to the top of 29,000-foot Mount Everest 65 million times, or to the bottom of the 36,000-foot Mariana Trench, the deepest point in the Pacific, about 53 million times.

Unfortunately the $1.9 trillion in new borrowing authority won’t take us quite that far.

But 1.9 trillion is still a lot, no matter how you look at it.  In dollars, it’s almost twice what the U.S. has spent in military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001.

That amount would buy about 422 Nimitz Class aircraft carriers, which run about $4.5 billion apiece.  It would be enough to provide Pell grants of $5,000 to some 380 million low-income students, a number exceeding the country’s entire population.


The world population is about 6.7 billion, so 1.9 trillion people would be enough to populate about 284 worlds.


In terms of time, 1.9 trillion seconds adds up to about 60,000 years.  And 1.9 trillion hours ago — or almost 220 million years ago — dinosaurs were just beginning to dominate the Earth.


Less than a decade ago, $1.9 trillion would have been enough to finance the operations and programs of the federal government for an entire year.

The unpopular debt-limit legislation is needed to allow the federal government to issue bonds to fund programs and prevent a first-time default on obligations.   It promises to be a challenging debate for Democrats, who, as the party in power, hold the responsibility for passing the legislation.

The record increase in the debt limit is required because the budget deficit has spiraled out of control in the wake of a recession that shrank tax revenue, the Wall Street bailout and increased spending by the Democratic-controlled Congress. Last year’s deficit hit a phenomenal $1.4 trillion, and this year’s deficit promises to be as high or higher.

Congress has never failed to increase the borrowing limit, but it will take 60 votes to pass the legislation under an agreement by top Senate leaders.

 

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