Growth in the National Debt: Ten Years and Ten Trillion Dollars

I know the national debt isn't supposed to matter, at least, so some well-placed pundits in the media tell me. But it's hard to head off a modicum of concern when I glance at the figures and notice that the total public debt outstanding has risen from $7.16 trillion to $17.56 trillion in ten years.

At some point, you have to think that it's going to occur to people that the United States government seems neither willing nor able to stop borrowing, and to start paying the sum down, even a little bit.

The "stop borrowing" part would be a good start. But that's a lot of money to pay back.

And eventually, the bill will come due.