
ype="node" title="National Debt Clock
So far in this fiscal year (from Oct. 1 through Aug. 23), the debt has grown by an average of $3,616,398,477.40 per calendar day ($1,186,178,700,586.99 divided by 328 days). Were the debt to grow at that pace in the week following last Thursday’s close of $15.976 trillion, it would hit $16 trillion this Thursday--the day Mitt Romney is scheduled to give his speech accepting the Republican presidential nomination.
However, the debt does not grow in a steady, unbroken daily pace. Instead, it expands and retracts from day to day during the business week depending on the value of the bonds the U.S. Treasury sells and redeems. On a day that the Treasury derives more revenue from selling bonds than it pays out to redeem bonds, the debt increases.
Last Wednesday, for example, the debt actually declined by almost $9.7 billion--from $15,970,134,937,605.00 to $15,960,468,522,111.20—as the Treasury redeemed bonds of greater value than it sold. However, on Thursday, the debt increased by slightly more than $16 billion, ending that day at $15,976,519,029,144.14.
Also, the Treasury does not report the value of the debt reached at the close of any business day until 4:00 pm on the following business day. For example, the value of the government’s debt as of the close of business on Friday will not be officially reported by the Treasury until 4:00 pm on Monday—and the value of the debt as of the close of business this Thursday will not be reported until 4:00 pm this Friday.

President George W. Bush met with President-elect Barack Obama and former Presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter in the Oval Office on Jan. 7, 2009. (AP Photo/File Photo)
Thus, under Obama, the debt has increased more than under all presidents from George Washington through George H.W. Bush combined.
During President George W. Bush’s two terms in office, the debt increased $4,899,100,310,608.44. That is also more than all the debt accumulated by all previous presidents from George Washington through George H.W. Bush combined.
Nonetheless, the $5,349,641,980,231.06 in new debt accumulated in less than four years under Obama is more than the $4,899,100,310,608.44 in new debt accumulated in eight full years under George W. Bush.
According to data reported by the IRS earlier this year, there were 81,890,189 tax returns filed for 2009 that showed taxable income. That means the total debt of the United States now equals $195,096.86 for each 2009 federal taxpayer.
The $5,349,641,980,231.06 in new debt accumulated just during Obama's time in office equals about $65,327 per taxpayer.

House Speaker John Boehner speaks at the Peter G. Peterson Foundation’s 2012 fiscal summit in Washingon on Tuesday, May 15, 2012 (AP Photo)
President Obama proposed a fiscal 2013 budget that, according to the Congressional Budget Office, called for $6.39 trillion in deficit spending in the ten years from fiscal 2013 through fiscal 2022. During those ten years, according to CBO’s analysis, the annual deficit would never drop below $488 billion, a level it would hit in 2017. Under Obama’s budget proposal, according to CBO, annual deficits would start to grow again after 2017, hitting $510 billion in 2018, $602 billion in 2019, $638 billion in 2020, $678 billion in 2021, and $728 billion in 2022.
In fiscal 2008, according to the White House Office of Management and Budget, the federal government spent $2.982 trillion. In fiscal 2012, it will spend an estimated $3.795 trillion.