Pop the champagne -- the U.S. debt just surpassed $15 trillion.
The inauspicious milestone comes as Congress tries anew to slash billions of dollars from the federal budget and at least slow the rise in the national debt.
But the $15 trillion mark puts the congressional effort in perspective.
While lawmakers on a bipartisan committee are stuck on how to reach their minimum deficit-reduction target of $1.2 trillion over 10 years, the pace at which the national debt is increasing suggests any agreement would barely make a dent.
After all, it took just one year for the U.S. government to add $1.2 trillion to the national debt, thanks to a 2011 deficit of approximately that size. The debt was at $13.8 trillion last November, or $1.2 trillion below where it is today. It passed the $14 trillion mark at the very end of 2010, and this week hit $15 trillion.
While the unofficial "debt clock" showed the country reaching that point on Wednesday afternoon, official figures kept by the Bureau of the Public Debt show the $15 trillion threshold was crossed on Tuesday.
Either way, it's a lot of money -- some $600 billion more than the combined economies of China and Japan.
Critics of the Obama administration's spending were not shy about publicly bemoaning the development.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/11/16/national-debt-hits-15t-as-congress-strains-to-cut-12t/#ixzz1dxjFVUc9
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