This is the on-budget debt, meaning the debt statistic the government prefers to report. It is deliberately misleading. The real debt is over seven times larger.
For a detailed series of all deficits -- public and private -- click here.
The unfunded liability of the U.S. government for Social Security and Medicare is over $70 trillion. See Table 1.
Watch the video of David Walker, then the Comptroller General of the United States, which aired on CBS's "Sixty Minutes" on January 16, 2008. Exactly one month later, he announced his resignation. He now heads up a newly organized foundation designed to sound a warning on America's looming bankruptcy.
On October 20, 2005, the on-budget debt of the United States Government went over $8 trillion. This is an increase of well over $2 trillion since January, 2001.
In 2007, it went over $9 trillion.
In 2008, it went over $10.5 trillion
In 2009, it went over $11.7 trillion
When was the last year the Federal government had a surplus? If you say "2000, Clinton's last full year in office," you don't understand how the accounting game is played. The Federal government counts Social Security and Medicare tax revenues as providing a surplus, even though they are debts.
The last year when the government ran a surplus was 1957. See the article here.
In addition, the total unfunded government debt, which includes Social Security, Medicare, and Federal pensions (off-budget), is approaching $77 trillion. (See Table 2).
The on-budget debt is bad enough. You can see its growth in two charts: total debt and per capita debt. They are here
On the yearly growth of this debt, 1791-2007, see the official numbers here.
For any year, or range of years, 1993-present, use the Treasury's software here.
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