HELLO?! As the economy grows, as the population grows, many things will be "THE BIGGEST, GREATEST, MOST" ever in history. That in and of itself IS MEANINGLESS!!!!! The only thing that's relevant is the percentage.
When the nation had a GDP of 1 billion dollars, 10 billion dollars of debt would have been staggering (10X). If the GDP is 10 trillion dollars, 10 billion in debt is insignificant. What is so hard to understand about this most basic math?
In 1989 we went from being a creditor to debtor nation. In recent years that debt has increased significantly. Call me a chicken little, but I find that troubling.