The national debt stands at $27.27 trillion as of Nov. 20, 2020. This enormous bill didn’t come from nowhere, and it’s safe to say that the U.S. will likely continue to have debt due to the coronavirus in the foreseeable future. So, how worried should Americans be about the national debt? There’s not a lot of agreement across the political spectrum on the answer to that question.
However, understanding why the U.S. borrows money and how different historical events shaped that process is important to any informed citizen, especially with a new president entering into 2021. Knowing how much the federal government borrowed to deal with various issues and events throughout the last century can help you gauge whether each politician’s plans to address the national debt are feasible.
For example, you can note how 1933 saw a marked increase in debt as the new Roosevelt administration broke with the fiscal orthodoxy of the time by employing large deficits to combat the Great Depression. Each recession has correlated with a spike in borrowing, with tax revenues dropping when the needs of the American people were at their highest. All told, tracking the progress of the national debt is a valuable way to understand the U.S. government’s relationship to its people.
Using data from TreasuryDirect and the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ consumer price index inflation calculator, GOBankingRates analyzed the total U.S. national debt from 1900 to present in five-year increments and adjusted the outstanding debt for inflation to provide context in today’s dollars. Looking over the resulting data can help put the national debt into perspective.
Last updated: Nov. 23, 2020
