The US National Debt Clock

2008-04-28 15:09:29

( Financial )



What is the US National Debt Clock?

The US National Debt Clock is an electronic billboard which illustrates up-to-the-minute levels of national debt. It is actually one of various websites that inform the public about the latest national debt trends.

Depending on the website you access, you may either see the exact total figure of US national at an exact point in time, a table with annual figures, or a graph with debt levels over a number of years. Some US national debt clocks also show you the amount of debt per family per year.

Why was the US National Debt Clock Set Up?

The goal of the founders of the US National Debt Clock is to inform citizens of the continually increasing size of American debt and to instill public awareness about the repercussions of the debt's enormity.

The creators of the site claim that the figures posted are quite accurate since these are from the US National Treasury, thus they are reliable. The public is also encouraged to contact US Congress members to clarify about the national debt level and to lobby for positive action.

What is National Debt?

This is the total amount of money that the US government owes various sectors including government agencies, foreign governments, financial institutions, individual savings bonds investors, and many other fund sources. The money that the US government borrows from these sectors is used for its projects in infrastructure, operations of government offices, and implementation of laws.

National Debt Trends and Repercussions

Since the 80s, the level of US national debt has grown exponentially. As the nation suffered from a dramatic increase in inflation, so did the level of national debt.

Unfortunately, even with small decreases and occasional fluctuations, the trend is always on the rise, with current levels at about eight trillion dollars.

Having an enormous level of national debt is disturbing, as the government needs to service all its debt obligations. The interest charges it needs to pay along with any principal amounts may cause expenses to surpass revenues, causing huge amounts of deficits.

With such deficits, the government may have to resort to cost-cutting measures in other sectors just to survive. This includes cutting off some social services that are considered low priority, which will hurt parts of the US population.


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