This graphic does what numbers simply cannot; it gives us a feeling for what the term "national debt" means, and why there might just be a resistance to increasing it.
It starts with one $100 bill, and then contrasts that visually with $10,000, $1 million, $1 billion, $1 trillion, and finally with the $15 trillion national debt the US has run up on its credit card and the $114.5 trillion it has in unfunded liabilities. The last figure is the amount of money that the US government knows that it does not have to fully fund the Medicare, Medicare Prescription Drug Program, Social Security, Military and civil servant pensions. It is the money the US knows it will not have to pay all its bills. The pile of $100 bills, in a stack that measures a football field on each side, is taller than the Empire State Building or the former World Trade Center. http://www.wtfnoway.com/ The smaller national debt figure will this year surpass 20% of the entire world's combined GDP (Gross Domestic Product). In 2011 the national debt will exceed 100% of US GDP, and venture into the 100%+ debt-to-GDP ratio that the European PIIGS (bankrupt nations) have achieved. Big pile 'o bucks. Big pile 'o trouble.
