Twelve times a thousand times a billion Such a number can only be known abstractly to the human mind. A person is not apt to see 12 trillion widgets and thus fully realize how many that number signifies. Just in an abstract sense, however, the number can be understood represent debt that is beyond sustainability. If not, then exactly how much signifies the threshold over which any additional debt will never be paid back? The U.S. federal debt stands at $12 billion as 2009 is drawing to a close. If this amount is difficult for us to contemplate, how realistic is it that the debt will ever be paid off? that the debt has been growing since the late 1990s may mean that the question of paying off the federal debt might never be seriously entertained.
The full essay is at "U.S. National Debt."
