The United States is not a country at war nor is it suffering from any economic crisis or recession. Yet the federal government borrows money as if it were. The United States has more than $34 trillion in debt greater than the debt of any other nation. 34 trillion is roughly equivalent to the value of the economies of China, Germany, Japan, India and the United Kingdom combined. These figures are in gross terms, so the world's largest economy is expected to have a large debt as well. However, the U.S. federal government's debt relative to the size of its economy is also very high; it is 121% of its GDP. To get an idea, this percentage of debt is comparable to that of World War II. So the U.S. continues to spend more than it takes in each year. In fact, it has run annual deficits almost every year since its founding, and to cover that deficit it has to borrow. The money goes to social services like health care and education. But the debt is so large that the portion of the budget that goes to pay just the interest on the debt is very high. This interest is received by those who lent money to the U.S. government and it is estimated that by 2024 the interest burden alone will be $892 billion. To get an idea, the United States is the country that spends the most on defense and for this item it allocates almost 850 billion dollars. In other words, the United States spends almost as much on interest on its debt as it does on its military budget for an entire year. So, despite all these alarming figures, why for Americans it does not seem to be an issue that worries them so much? At what point in history has the United States managed to run a surplus? And why this huge debt can make it lose its influence around the world?

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