U.S. President Barack Obama holds his final news conference at the White House in Washington, U.S., January 18, 2017. © Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
RT.com
The United States national debt will have grown by about $9 trillion to over $19.6 trillion under President Barack Obama, according to the website USdebtclock.org.
The site tracks how much the US debt grows in real time. It shows that when Obama entered the Oval office in 2008, the national debt stood at $10.7 trillion. Thus, the increase is 86 percent.
By the time Donald Trumps is sworn in, the debt will have grown to almost $20 trillion.
The largest budget item is Medicare/Medicaid which has seen over $1.1 trillion added to US debt. Social Security accounted for $900 billion, while $585 billion was spent on defense and war.
With some of the payments attributable to George W. Bush’s bills, many economists say vast spending during the 2008 financial crisis helped the American economy to mitigate its consequences.
However, many are concerned such spending will affect taxpayers. At the moment, every US citizen owes over $205,000 with $7,600 interest, with every American family owing nearly $810,000.
