454,393,280,417.03
That number is the interest paid on the debt in 2012 that is nearly 1/2 trillion dollars on an average 15 Trillion debt. Interest on the debt is historically low right now roughly 3.29 percent the average interest rate is 6.5 percent if that rate returned to average and no new revenue or cuts in spending occurred the government would be required to put out 40 percent of its revenue just to pay the debt, do you see the snowball picking up steam now and growing so large it destroys everything. Again without serious entitlement reform we are toast, oh and by the way Obamacare not even listed on the USDEBTCLOCK yet but we know it already adds 2+ trillion to the defecit over 10 years so add that in too.
Interest-rate ping.