Nominal GDP, not seasonally adjusted, for the seven years 2006-2012 totals $2,941.8 billion.
Nominal interest payments on the debt for all the same fiscal years totals $2,897.7 billion.
And people wonder why we're not growing when all we've got is a measly $44.1 billion to show for it.
Interest payments on the massive debt of $17,609 billion are gobbling up economic growth.
Think of it this way. The seven year average interest payment on the debt, $414 billion annually, represents a simple interest rate of 2.35% on today's balance. That's what the economic growth rate should look like. Instead, last quarter it was -2.9%, down almost $74 billion seasonally adjusted, and negative $118 billion real.
The huge public debt is the drag on the economy, and would be the knee on the chest of the heart attack victim if the Federal Reserve didn't suppress interest rates the way it is doing.
