By Drew Desilver, includes “As of July 31, the federal government’s total debt stands at $19.845 trillion, according to the Treasury Department’s monthly reckoning. … The nation’s debt is now bigger than its gross domestic product … The single biggest creditors, in fact, are Social Security’s two trust funds … Net interest payments on the debt are estimated to total $276.2 billion this fiscal year, or 6.8% of all federal outlays. … Largely because of the Federal Reserve’s previous efforts to keep interest rates low during and after the Great Recession, the U.S. government is paying historically low rates on its debt. …”
Read the full article on: Pew Research Center