One giant debt for mankind: U.S. national deficit would reach almost to the moon if piled high in $5 bills

By Mail Foreign Service
Updated:


  • Echoes of Reagan's famous comment as debt limit is reached
  • Vice President Joe Biden to host crucial talks with Republicans tomorrow

President Ronald Reagan once famously said that a stack of $1,000 bills equivalent to the U.S. government's debt would be about 67 miles high.

That was 1981. Since then, the national debt has climbed to $14.3 trillion. In $1,000 bills, it would now be more than 900 miles tall.

In $5 bills, the pile would reach three-quarters of the way to the moon.

The United States hit its legal borrowing limit today and the Treasury Department has said the U.S. Congress must raise the debt ceiling by August 2 to avoid a default.

Size of the problem: The national debt clock in Times Square shows the national debt, which has hit its official limit ot $14.3bn

Size of the problem: The national debt clock in Times Square shows the national debt, which has hit its official limit ot $14.3bn

The White House is trying to hammer out a deal with lawmakers to cut federal spending in exchange for a debt-limit increase.

Such a deal may hinge on negotiations led by Vice President Joe Biden, which still have a long way to go to close the gap between deeply divided Democrats and Republicans.

Biden has increasingly been playing the role of emissary for the White House to Capitol Hill on the budget battle that threatens to lead the United States to the verge of default.

Republicans are demanding deep spending cuts in return for raising the borrowing ceiling.

A graphic representation of how far the U.S. national debt would reaach to the moon if pile up in $5 bills. 2011 vs 1981

A graphic representation of how far the U.S. national debt would reaach to the moon if pile up in $5 bills. 2011 vs 1981

Biden will gather together senior lawmakers from both parties tomorrow afternoon for a third set of talks to hammer out a compromise on reducing budget deficits.

The vice president's group made a better start than most observers had expected when it began to meet this month. But few expect an agreement to come quickly or easily.

'It is a virtual certainty that this process will go to the absolute last minute, and then for five minutes longer,' said Alex Brill, a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute who worked in President George W Bush's White House.

Attention has shifted to the Biden group after talks among a separate negotiating panel -- the 'Gang of Six' senators -- stalled last week with the departure of Republican Senator Tom Coburn, a fiscal conservative from Oklahoma.

Some analysts saw the breakdown of the Gang of Six talks as a bleak harbinger for the prospect of a long-term budget deal.

That group, comprised of fiscal experts from both parties, had been working behind the scenes since early this year.

Biden's panel includes four Democratic lawmakers and two Republicans who are known more for the clout they wield within their parties than for their budgetary expertise.

Among the members are Eric Cantor, the No. 2 Republican in the House of Representatives and James Clyburn, the No. 3 House Democrat.

President Ronald Reagan
Vice President Joe Biden

Then and now: Ronald Reagan made his famous comparison when president in 1981. Vice President Joe Biden will try and hammer out a deal with the Republicans tomorrow aimed at raising the debt limit

Biden has been a point person within the administration for relationships on Capitol Hill because of the 36 years he spent as a Delaware senator.ittee for a Responsible Federal Budget. 'The net worth of Warren Buffet, roughly around $50 billion, could only cover the deficit for 13 days.'

Most people have trouble conceptualising $14.3 trillion.

Stan Collender, a budget expert at Qorvis Communications, said the biggest sum most Americans have ever handled -- in real or play money -- is the $15,140 in the original, standard Monopoly board game.

The United States borrows about 185 times that amount each minute.

U.S. NATIONAL DEBT - THE TERRIFYING FACTS AND FIGURES

  • * U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has said the United States borrows about $125billion per month.

With that amount, the United States could buy each of its more than 300 million residents an Apple Inc iPad.

  • * In a 31-day month, that means the United States borrows about $4 billion per day.

A stack of dimes equivalent to that amount would wrap all the way around the Earth with change to spare.

  • * In one hour, the United States borrows about $168 million, more than it paid to buy Alaska in 1867, converted to today's dollars.

In two hours, the United States borrows more than it paid France for present-day Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa and the rest of the land obtained by the 1803 Louisiana Purchase.

  • * The U.S. government borrows more than $40,000 per second. That's more than the cost of a year's tuition, room and board at many universities.

'That usually gets their attention,' Doug Holtz-Eakin, who was chief White House economist under President George W. Bush, said in an email. 'I have two kids, so every 10 seconds, the feds borrow more than I paid lifetime.'

  • * The Congressional Budget Office projects the total budget deficit in fiscal 2011 at about $1.4trillion.

'The net worth of Bill Gates, roughly around $56 billion, could only cover the deficit for 15 days,' said Jason Peuquet, a policy analyst with the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.  'The net worth of Warren Buffet, roughly around $50 billion, could only cover the deficit for 13 days.'

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