Trillions and Trillions in Interest Paid On National Debt

Why is the national debt such a killer? Well, we end up paying trillions in interest to the creditors that hold it, money that could be used for more worthwhile things.

How much interest do you pay on your credit cards? If you sit down and calculate it out, you will faint. It is a ton. Well, the United States gets much better interest rates than you or I, but still pays a ton when the national debt is over $14 trillion. How much so? Let’s take a look.

According to CNNMoney.com, the total interest we will pay on the national debt this decade will be $5.5 trillion dollars. That is a best case scenario. Best case! If interest rates increase by more than expected, the figure starts rising quickly by a trillion, two trillion or more. That is a lot of money. Given how low interest rates are now, one has to assume they are going to go up at some point.

We throw around numbers so much now that they have pretty much lost their meaning to us. Well, let’s consider what a single trillion dollars would buy if we weren’t spending it to pay the interest on our debt.

- We could buy every sports team on the planet.
- We could buy NASA and run it for the next 50 years.
- Buy every single American an all inclusive vacation in Tahiti
- Give every man, woman and child in the United States a check for $3,400.

The examples go on and on. Paying the interest on the national debt is the equivalent of a giant wealth drain on our company.

It needs to stop.

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