Laurence Hunt's Blog

We live in a complex, interactive, increasingly borderless world in which our lives are impacted by a multiplicity of events originating from beyond the sphere of our direct influence. I wish to consider here how we might wisely and beneficially formulate our responses to such events by putting forward only those ideas that I consider to be most central to the problem, most disruptive of conventional thought, or - for the sake of leisure and conviviality - most fittingly diverting.

US National Debt Meter

November 26, 2008 - The US national debt has become very difficult to track. According to Jim Sinclair, and as of today - this keeps changing - the US government has pledged $1.7 trillion in corporate loans, $3.0 trillion in corporate investments, and $3.1 trillion in guarantees of various corporate instruments, for a total of $7.8 trillion in combined temporary and/or permanent outlays. Add this amount ($7.8 trillion) to the increasing figure below, which topped $10 trillion in the fall of 2008, up from $9 trillion since I first posted the amount here - only about mid-year. Consider this - if interest rates return to a very normal 8% level, then the US will soon be obligated to allocate over $1 trillion per year in interest payments, and that amount could easily approach $1.5 trillion per year if the debt instruments the US government is accepting do not recover their prior market value.

Gross National Debt

Or, click here for US National Debt Clock (uses somewhat different figures).