$451 Billion and Climbing

The numbers are now official. The total interest paid on the U.S. national debt for the 2008 fiscal year (that ended Oct 31 2008) was $451 billion. Last year, it was (only) $230 billion. With an expected $1 trillion budget deficit for 2009, the interest is likely to rise to more than $500 billion.

As the deficit continues to mushroom higher, one can only wonder how much higher the figure will go, especially since the mushrooming debt is likely to push not only the interest amount, but the interest rate, higher!

Welcome to the White House, President-elect Obama!