$6.9 trillion in public debt breaks down to $22,549 per citizen. Foreign entities held $3.07 trillion in Treasury debt at the end of January 2009, 45% of the public holding. Foreign ownership will have to rise sharply this year.
Huge shortfalls mean massive borrowing. Our government will have to borrow much of the money available in global markets this year. Across the course of 2009, the US Treasury will borrow $2.25 trillion, or $7,352 per person. That amounts to over 20% of average disposable personal income. Our plans are contingent on massive and global demand for our debt despite the low interest rates we offer. If there is a stumble on that front, it will not be pretty.
The numbers are staggering. Billions and trillions of dollars for bailouts, budgets, debt and spending. It numbs the senses and defies comprehension. Maybe we could relate better if the numbers were broken down into smaller numbers by dividing them all by 306,000,000, the population of the US based on 2009 census data.
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