Indebted Nation

November 23rd, 2009

Edmund Andrews explains why the U.S.’s debt is such a problem:

The problem, many analysts say, is that record government deficits have arrived just as the long-feared explosion begins in spending on benefits under Medicare and Social Security. The nation’s oldest baby boomers are approaching 65, setting off what experts have warned for years will be a fiscal nightmare for the government.

We now have $12 trillion of debt, are paying $202 billion of interest on it this year, and it’s estimated by the White House to rise to $700 billion per year by 2019.