OSO's Debt Watch - May 2010

GDP = $14.6014 Trillion (Current Dollar, 2010 Q1 first estimate)
Public Debt = $8.35552685332603 Trillion (2010-04-28)
Total debt owed to foreign holders of treasury securities = $3.7505 Trillion (2010-03-01)
Debt/GDP ratio = 57.22%
Foreign ownership of debt/GDP ratio = 25.69%
Population = 309,212,311 (Resident Population + Armed Forces Overseas, 2010-03-01)
GDP per capita = $47,221.28
Public Debt / person = $27,021.97
Foreign Public Debt/ person = $12,129.21
GDP per capita minus Public Debt per person = $20,199.30
Tax Receipts = $2.068549 Trillion (Twelve month moving average¹, Monthly Treasury Statement, 2010-03-01)
Tax Receipts as percentage of GDP = 14.17%
Debt/Receipt ratio² = 403.93%
Federal Government Outlays = $3.419868 Trillion (Twelve month moving average¹, Monthly Treasury Statement, 2010-03-01)
Federal Government Outlays as percentage of GDP = 23.42%
For every $1.00 the US government gains, it spends $1.65
Fiscal Surplus/Deficit = -$1.35132 Trillion
Surplus/Deficit as percentage of GDP = -9.25%
Interest paid on Treasury Debt Securities (Gross, Twelve month moving average, Monthly Treasury Statement, 2010-03-01) = $0.395915 Trillion
Interest paid on Treasury Debt as percentage of revenue = 19.14%
Interest paid on Treasury Debt as percentage of GDP = 2.71%

Notes:

• I will now update every month rather than every week to ensure that all data is current.
  
• GDP increase of 3.2% has reduced public debt/gdp ratio from 57.76% to 57.22%.
• Americans owe $23.97 more than they did last month, but are worth $477.35 more than they were last month.
  
• Federal deficit has dropped to 9.25% of GDP
  

In October 2008, GDP was $14.2003 Trillion (Current Dollar, 2008 Q4 final estimate)
In October 2008, Public Debt was $6.18964742400511 Trillion (2008-10-20)
In October 2008, the total debt owed to foreign holders of treasury securities was $2.9797 Trillion
In October 2008, the Debt/GDP ratio was 43.59%
In October 2008, the foreign ownership of debt/GDP ratio was 20.98%
In October 2008, the Population (resident population + Armed Forces overseas) was 305,554,049 (2008-10-01)
In October 2008, GDP per capita was $46,473.94
In October 2008, Public Debt / person was $20,257.13
In October 2008, Foreign Public Debt/ person was $9,751.79
In October 2008, GDP per capita minus Public Debt per person was $26,216.81
In October 2008, Tax Receipts were $2.578156 Trillion (Twelve month moving average¹, November 2008 Monthly Treasury Statement)
In October 2008, Tax Receipts represented 18.16% of GDP
In October 2008, the Debt/Receipt² ratio was 240.08%
In October 2008, Federal Government outlays were $2.747197 Trillion (Twelve month moving average¹, November 2008 Monthly Treasury Statement)
In October 2008, Federal Government outlays represented 19.35% of GDP
In October 2008, for every $1.00 the US government gained, it spent $1.07.
In October 2008, the Fiscal Surplus/Deficit was −$0.169041 Trillion
In October 2008 the Surplus/Deficit as percentage of GDP was -1.19%
In October 2008, interest paid on Treasury Debt Securities (Twelve month moving average, Monthly Treasury Statements) was $0.429994 Trillion
In October 2008, interest paid on Treasury Debt as percentage of revenue was 16.68%
In October 2008, interest paid on Treasury Debt as percentage of GDP was 3.03%

The historical tables of the FY2010 budget (page 24-25) show that:

Highest tax receipts as percentage of GDP: 20.9% in 1944 and 2000.
Lowest tax receipts as percentage of GDP: 2.8% in 1932.
The last time tax receipts were lower than they are now: 13.3% in 1943.
Highest Federal Government outlays as percentage of GDP: 43.6% in 1943 and 1944.
Lowest Federal Government outlays as percentage of GDP: 3.4% in 1930.
The last time Federal Government outlays were higher than they are now: 24.8% in 1946.
Fiscal Deficit - Worst: -30.3% in 1943
Fiscal Surplus - Best: 4.6% in 1948


¹ Measures total tax receipts/outlays over the previous 12 months from the last month measured. eg April 2009 to March 2010.
² The Debt/Receipt ratio measures government revenue (twelve month moving average) as a percentage of current public debt. A good way to compare it would be to compare your current income to what you owe on your mortgage.

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