US Action News

“A growing level of federal debt would also increase the probability of a sudden fiscal crisis, during which investors would lose confidence in the government’s ability to manage its budget, and the government would thereby lose its ability to borrow at affordable rates. It is possible that interest rates would rise gradually as investors’ confidence declined, giving legislators advance warning of the worsening situation and sufficient time to make policy choices that could avert a crisis. But as other countries’ experiences show, it is also possible that investors would lose confidence abruptly and interest rates on government debt would rise sharply.” CBO

This gross federal debt is comprised of the debt held by the public ($8.8 trillion) plus the debt held by intra-governmental accounts ($4.5 trillion), such as the money paid by taxpayers for Social Security and Medicare. Together, this gross federal debt represents over 90 percent of U.S. GDP.