Like a ticking time bomb, the national debt ... expanding by about $1.4 billion a day _ or nearly $1 million a minute ...

National Debt Grows $1 Million a Minute | TOM RAUM | December 3, 2007 05:37 PM EST

WASHINGTON — Like a ticking time bomb, the national debt is an explosion waiting to happen. It's expanding by about $1.4 billion a day _ or nearly $1 million a minute.

What's that mean to you?

It means almost $30,000 in debt for each man, woman, child and infant in the United States.

Even if you've escaped the recent housing and credit crunches and are coping with rising fuel prices, you may still be headed for economic misery, along with the rest of the country. That's because the government is fast straining resources needed to meet interest payments on the national debt, which stands at a mind-numbing $9.13 trillion. ...
...
The national debt _ the total accumulation of annual budget deficits _ is up from $5.7 trillion when President Bush took office in January 2001 and it will top $10 trillion sometime right before or right after he leaves in January 2009. ...
...
For now, large U.S. trade deficits with much of the rest of the world work in favor of continued foreign investment in Treasuries and dollar-denominated securities. After all, the vast sums Americans pay _ in dollars _ for imported goods has to go somewhere. But that dynamic could change.

"The first day the Chinese or the Japanese or the Saudis say, `we've bought enough of your paper,' then the debt _ whatever level it is at that point _ becomes unmanageable," said Collender. ...