Our mountain of debt

Foreign investors hold the largest share of the national debt. Estimated foreign holdings of U.S. Treasury securities have more than tripled since 2001. Some worry about the geopolitical consequences of foreign governments investing so deeply in U.S. Treasurys. But the investments also tie the fortunes of foreign governments more closely to those of the United States.

Nice Interactive chart.  Please check it out. I have not yet figured out how to copy and paste these charts into my blog.   

View Photo Gallery — Debt-limit debate continues as clock ticks down: Negotiations have appeared to whipsaw from a fallback plan that would raise the debt ceiling but do little to control future borrowing to an ambitious, but complicated, bipartisan strategy for raising taxes and cutting cherished health and retirement programs.

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Our mountain of debt: Foreign investors hold the largest share of the national debt.

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How large is the U.S. national debt?: $14.3 trillion is a massive number. Here are some figures that put it in perspective.

The national debt is now over $14 trillion dollars, around $46,560 per person.

Ed Bailey / AP

That's $102,218 per worker.

Eric Gay / AP 

 

That's $129,877 per person who pays income tax.

Paul Sakuma / AP

That's $174,038 per family.

PR Newswire

That's 4.34 trillion Big Macs, based on the $3.29 price in Northern Virginia.

Reed Saxon / AP

That's 58 million new 2011 Rolls-Royce Ghosts.

Mel Evans / AP

That's 1.47 billion years of an average person's monthly rent.

Jeff Roberson / AP

That's 287 million years of an average household's income.

AP

That's 1 billion years of an average family's health coverage.

Eric Fodor / AP

There are an estimated 300 sextillion stars in the universe, so the national debt is still one 21-billionth of that figure.

NASA / AP

That's 359 billion yearly subscriptions to the Washington Post.

Charles Dharapak / AP