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The U.S. national debt reached $20 trillion for the first time ever last Friday after President Trump signed a bipartisan bill temporarily raising the nation's debt limit for three months.
While at Camp David, Mr. Trump, with the stroke of his presidential pen, increased the statutory debt last Friday by approximately $318 billion, according to the Treasury Department. Before the bill's completion, the U.S. debt was sitting around $19.84 trillion.
The legislation allowed the Treasury Department to start borrowing again immediately after several months of using "extraordinary measures" to avoid a financial default. The bill passed last Thursday 80-17 in the Senate and in the House 316-90 on Friday. Around $15 billion in emergency funding for Hurricane Harvey recovery efforts was attached to the borrowing measure.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/national-debt-hits-historic-20-trillion-mark/
[That works out to just shy of $62,000 per American. --Ed.]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Grishnakh on Friday September 15 2017, @05:27PM
One is worse than the other. If you're going to spend tons of money, it's more fiscally responsible to actually acquire that money (usually by taxation) than to keep spending yourself into more and more debt.
If you insist on buying a fancier car and a big-screen TV, should you 1) work overtime at your job (or work a second job) to get the money to pay for it, or 2) rack up more debt on your credit cards? The best solution is to stick with a more sensible car and not have a TV, but if you're going to get those things, it's better to earn the money first instead of racking up debt and the associated interest payments. Republicans can't seem to figure that out.