US public debt tops $12 trillion for first time ever

By Agence France-Presse
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 -- 7:27 pm
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money toilet4 US public debt tops $12 trillion for first time everThe US public debt topped 12 trillion dollars for the first time in history, Treasury officials disclosed Tuesday, moving past a key barrier that raised hackles in Congress.

Treasury data showed Monday's outstanding debt at 12.031 trillion dollars, up from 11.999 trillion on Friday.

The ballooning debt reflects the massive deficit spending by the government in an effort to revive an ailing economy over more than one year.

The public debt topped 10 trillion dollars in September 2008.

The debt is quickly approaching the statutory limit of 12.104 trillion dollars, meaning Congress would have to raise the ceiling to prevent a shutdown of government operations.

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Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said the debt figures represented unwelcome news and that the 787 billion dollar stimulus plan passed earlier this year failed to keep unemployment from topping 10 percent.

"This should serve as an urgent warning that the government can't keep spending money it doesn't have," he said.

"Thousand-page bills that spend too much, borrow too much and tax too much are exactly the wrong approach for creating jobs. It's my sincere hope that the administration will work with us on bipartisan efforts to reduce the debt, lower health care costs and help employers grow jobs."

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Story comments are below...

  • donofcali
    Fuck you Mitch McConnell. You and your corrupt comrades didn't make a peep about massive deficit spending for your bullshit wars and your bullshit homeland security bureaucracies. All America has gotten for those expenditures is death and a reduction in our Constitutional rights.

    But the minute that the government even thinks about deficit spending for something that will help us here in America, you sick bastards are all against it.

    If it's for the rich, like Bush's tax cuts, or if it's for the sake of making bombs and slaughtering innocent foreigners, then you're all gung-ho for it. But if it's anything for the benefit of the vast majority of Americans, then you're totally against it. You are the epitome of the republicon.
  • overdoneputaforkinit
    Not for a long time have I read a Republican has said he hopes for "bipartisan effort." They are just now figuring out what being a minority means.
  • howiebledsoe
    Everything is going exactly as planned. Once the dollar hits the ceiling, expect to see the "Amero dollar" or whatever the fuck it´s called, or maybe a "Coalition dollar." We stoopid sheeple will have little choice but to accept it, as a loaf of bread would cost you US $100,000,000 or 0.50 amero cents. Ofcourse, in between time, they will also be accepting munitions and firearms for food, I´ll bet.
  • Dan
    Neither party in our House or Senate seems to care about us at this point. They're going to continue the same old trend we've seen for decades now: spending money we don't have. We're paying for two wars, massive expansion of the government with homeland security and so forth, a bail out or two every time someone sneezes...it has to stop somewhere.

    Hopefully something will be done before we are forced to stop spending...which would mean the entire system would collapse. Deficit spending and fractional reserve banking doesn't work. Where's the change we've been promised?!
  • miggy
    They are terrorists but they are terrorists that are hired by the corporations that own our government.
    So they are above the law just like anyone in public office that might do anything illegally. For example, break Geneva Conventions by acts of aggression, approve and demand torture, hold U.S. citizens without trial indefinitely, wire tapping an entire nation of innocent citizens.
    Fascism creep is picking up tempo and the sound boots are not waking the soon to be victims.
    Just wait when the corporations turn their vengeance and terrorists on the U.S. citizen. The police force of old will look like kindergarten teachers compared to the beyond the law violence that will be turned on all of us.
    The sooner we get in the streets and fight this fascism creep the less likely we will see our country fall into darkness.
    Please we need to open our eyes and look plainly at what we have become and stand against this these anti-democratic forces.
    We need to from a new government for this one does not serve the people. DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS ARE THE PROBLEM. THE SYSTEM IS BROKEN AND CORRUPT TO THE CORE.
    We need stop this machine! We need a national strike! We need our government to fear it's citizens. That is what a democracy feels like. Tyranny is what we have now..WE FEAR OUR GOVERNMENT.
    None of those clowns in Washington deserve our courtesy. Forgive me but we should all be interrupting speeches of these liars. Obama defends tortures while continues the slaughter of innocents and has not stopped the wire tapping or repealed the Military Commissions Act of Patriot I & II. I have no respect for any man that holds the power he holds and does not fight against such egregious violations of our Constitution and basic human rights.
    So interrupt, get in their faces. They are just messenger boys running errands and they are not running them for you because the store was bought and is now under corporate rule.
    You must stand together all as citizens not as factions but as one. I think we can all, ALL agree that this government does not represent the people but oppresses them. That one issue is the issue that should hold us together. Do not let any other issue break apart the uniting idea. We can do nothing as a people until we get our Democracy in the hands of EVERY citizen in this.
    Now is the time.
  • theoracle
    And over 75 percent of this $12 Trillion national debt was generated during previous Republican administrations. Cut taxes. Start wars. Taxpayer bailouts of corporate welfare queens. Hey, this kind of insanity always drives up the debt and this kind of insanity always seems to happen during Republican administrations.
  • OldAtlantic
    The Summers Bernanke Duo strikes again.
  • Avo_1
    I can't believe some people haven't figured out that BOTH parties are working toward the demise of the sovereignty of this country so they can strip us of the Constitution and Bill of Rights and make us just another nation state under the rule of a One World Government. My god, they've written thousands of books telling us as much. Our politicians, barring a very few, have been bought off and are going along with all of this. Western politics is nothing more than WWE theater! Wake Up America! Neither the Democrats nor the Republicans care anything about your well being. They pay you lip service and then stab you in the back. We've mortgaged our future and the future of our children. Now we're mortgaging our grandchildren's future. We should all be ashamed of the materialistic, self-centered "yuppies" we've become. We're a disgrace to our forefathers.
  • Here we go again, blaming the government for the state it is in when it started from way back when the previous administration opted for war that did not do anything for the people. At least the expenses today are aimed at propping the economy so it will not totally collapse and of course help the American people with health care and such.

    Evelyn Guzman
    http://www.debtchallenges.com (If you want to visit, just click but if it doesn’t work, copy and paste it onto your browser.)
  • Phil E. Drifter
    It's the Federal Reserve. They make money by making money. The national deficit will never be paid off because it is what the US government owes the Federal Reserve, which is neither federal (it's privately owned) nor is there a reserve. (What do they have a reserve of?)
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