October 1, 2009 11:23 AM

U.S. Begins Fiscal Year $11,776,112,848,656.17 in Debt

By
Mark Knoller
Topics
White House
(CBS/iStockPhoto)
Happy New Year!

But leave the hats and horns in the closet. There's nothing to celebrate.

Today marks the start of the 2010 federal fiscal year. The only thing good about it is that FY'09 is finally over.

It was the fiscal year in which the U.S. suffered the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression and government numbers reflected that.

It was as if a fiscal tsunami struck and flooded the nation with red ink.

By the time the final numbers are in for the fiscal year just ended, the federal deficit will have hit an all-time high in the range of $1.580-trillion. That's 11.2 percent of the total economy (GDP). The previous year's deficit was – by today's standards – nearly inconsequential at $459-billion. That was only 3.2 percent of GDP.

Over the course of FY'09, the National Debt soared as well from $10.124-trillion on October 1, 2008 to $11,776,112,848,656.17 as of Tuesday, the latest figure from the Bureau of Public Debt. That's an increase of $1.652-trillion – the single largest increase ever in a fiscal year.

The projections for the new fiscal year offer only slight hope of improvements. The mid-session review released by the Office of Management and Budget at the end of August forecasts a deficit for FY'10 just over $1.5-tillion, amounting to 10.4 percent of the total economy. And the aptly-named Gross National Debt is projected to skyrocket in excess of $14-trillion.

The only break taxpayers get is that interest paid on the National Debt is not as much as it otherwise might be because interest rates are so low. Net interest paid on the Debt will amount this year to just under $200-billion. That's about 1.4 percent - a bargain considering the massive amount of the principal.

About the only time President Obama mentions the federal deficit is when he vows not to sign any health care plan "that adds one dime to our deficit -- either now or in the future. Period."

That's good because all other federal spending will add 158-trillion dimes to the deficit already.

More Coverage of the National Debt by Mark Knoller:

$1 Trillion More in Debt Since Obama Took Office
National Debt Hits Record $11 Trillion
Bush Just Escapes Being $5-Trillion Man

(CBS)
Mark Knoller is a CBS News White House correspondent. You can read more of his posts in Hotsheet here. You can also follow him on Twitter here: http://twitter.com/markknoller.


Add a Comment See all 28 Comments
by SHEETPAN October 1, 2009 3:20 PM EDT
Just blaming a single party is flat out wrong. The way D.C. does business is the problem. Political paybacks, Lobby groups both right
and left of center. Spending attached to legislation that has hot a single thing to do with the spirit of the bill being voted on, Flat out corruption and God knows what else. The money D. C. doles out is not thier money, Thats what makes it so easy for them to approve spending it. Maybe if we attached some kind of bonus program for Senators and Representatives. If they only spend as much money as the government collects. They would be rewarded. We should enforce term limits and only allow them to serve extra terms if they find ways to pass bills that we don't have to borrow or print money to pay for.
Reply to this comment
by jankebenzone October 1, 2009 2:53 PM EDT
Playing the blame game does'nt solve the problem and the problem as it stands now means each and every citizen is on the hook for appr.40 thousand dollars. Get the idea?
Reply to this comment
by zoopster1 October 1, 2009 2:38 PM EDT
Well since the government has always done such a bang-up job of controlling costs and eliminating waste, by all means lets put the ENTIRE NATIONAL HEALTHCARE INFRASTRUCTURE in their hands. Idiots.
Reply to this comment
by hungry1968-16 October 1, 2009 2:23 PM EDT
by --_One-American_-- October 1, 2009 2:16 PM EDT
And Liberals thought that the Democrats would make things all better.

That's about as dead wrong as humans can get - Obama only quadrupled Bush's debt in the first few months - and we have nothing to show for it, either.

Obama is a mistake.






Bush added over $5 TRILLION to the national debt.

So how do you figure that Obama is "quadrupling" what Bush did?
Reply to this comment
by bajajohn1 October 1, 2009 2:18 PM EDT
Let us not forget that the cost of Iraq war was to be paid with Iraqi oil. Show me the money!!
Reply to this comment
by hungry1968-16 October 1, 2009 2:16 PM EDT
by NewYork-Joey October 1, 2009 2:01 PM EDT
by truth-b-toll October 1, 2009 1:17 PM EDT
THANKS BUSH-CHENEY &GOP!
____________

Yes, thanks for not running up deficits/debt this massive.....I thought you spent a lot, but this clown has amazing spending powers in the trills






Where do you think all of our current national debt came from?

You're clueless.
Reply to this comment
by bajajohn1 October 1, 2009 2:12 PM EDT
Actually a debt of 10% of GDP is not as onerous as some make that sum. As for the economic downturn, some folks need to go to jail. Those folks who created the financially irresponsible instruments such as credit default swaps and those who insured bad debt. Those folks need to be held accountable. Why the government is not moving in that direction if SEC regulations were violated defies all conventional standards where, "no man is above the law."
Reply to this comment
by hungry1968-16 October 1, 2009 2:00 PM EDT
Thank you Reagan, Bush Sr, and Bush Jr.

This debt is virtually ALL YOURS.
Reply to this comment
by truth-b-toll October 1, 2009 1:17 PM EDT
THANKS BUSH-CHENEY &GOP!
Reply to this comment
by NewYork-Joey October 1, 2009 2:01 PM EDT
by truth-b-toll October 1, 2009 1:17 PM EDT
THANKS BUSH-CHENEY &GOP!
____________

Yes, thanks for not running up deficits/debt this massive.....I thought you spent a lot, but this clown has amazing spending powers in the trills
by ksmit2 October 1, 2009 1:05 PM EDT
Once again, we see that the most "popular" kids aren't the smartest.
Turn over our finances to a giant swiss bank or something, because we
have repeatedly demonstrated that we cannot pay bills, balance our check
book or anything else, as a country. We cannot offord to fight wars with
borrowed money. We have been the "world police" for too many years, and
guess what. The world is more dangerous than when we started. The Chinese
are our "Rich Uncle". We can't afford any more six hundred dollar visits
to the emergency room for our runny nose. The wino doesn't need 2 MRI's
and a week in the hospital because he fell off the bus bench.
Iran and North Korea aren't blowing anyone up. They know that they would
be glowing briquettes within the hour of any such incident. Call the troops home and pay off the debt. We have millions of strapping welfare
recipients who would be happy to work in Sams giant warehouses to defray
the cost of their room and board..
Reply to this comment
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