Charting the American Debt Crisis

We've been here before - America has a long history of raising the debt limit to accommodate spending. Why should today be any different? The NY Times put together some great charts to help explain the current situation in a simple, easy to understand way.

New York Times - "If Congress does not raise the debt ceiling, the U.S. Treasury will run out of cash reserves to pay for obligations like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and defense contracts. The chart below shows the amount of the nation’s cash reserves and estimates for when it will run out if the debt ceiling is not raised"

How often has the debt limit been raised? By the Treasury Department's count, Congress has acted 78 times since 1960 to raise, extend or alter the definition of the debt limit — 49 times under Republican presidents, and 29 times under Democratic presidents.

Source:

Charting the American Debt Crisis (New York Times)