Sometime early next month, the United States’ national debt will exceed $15.18 trillion. According to the Commerce Department, the nation’s gross domestic product (the market value of all goods and services produced) is only $15.17 trillion. In other words, not soon after the ball drops in Times Square, the U.S. will join Greece and Italy in the ranks of countries whose total debt obligations are larger than their entire economies. The main driver of the nation’s burgeoning debt problem is out-of-control federal spending. But while Italy and Greece have cut government outlays, federal officials in the White House and Congress have been doing the opposite. According to the Congressional Budget Office, federal spending rose from $3.45 trillion in 2010 to an estimated $3.59 trillion in 2011. So much for the age of austerity.
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