Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Alternate history of the debt

The national debt is huge now, but is actually growing slowly since about May 1, 2012.  When was the last time it grew at this slow of a pace?

Well, I haven't look at every month, but I think the last time in which the debt grew this slowly was May 2008.  The national debt on 5/30/2008 was $9389 bn.

If it continued at the rate of 0.579%/mo (which is the rate at which it will double in 10 years), the national debt would look like the following:
9/30/2008   $9,608 bn (actual $10,025 bn)
9/30/2009 $10,298 bn (actual $11,910 bn)
9/30/2010 $11,036 bn (actual $13,562 bn)
9/30/2011 $11,828 bn (actual $14,790 bn)
8/31/2012 $12,604 bn (actual $16,016 bn)

So we have borrowed $3.4 trillion more than if we had borrowed at the slower pace.  What do we have to show for the money?

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