In addition to the great links already in this thread I'd like to add this post from Planet Money describing what happened that last time the US paid it off [1]

In addition to the great links already in this thread I'd like to add this post from Planet Money describing what happened that last time the US paid it off [1]. [aside] I love the the Planet Money podcast and highly recommend it. I wish more of the talking-podcasts I follow (Mixergy, Teckzing, back-to-work, stackexchange, etc) were available in 20 min chunks instead of the 60 min they all seem to favor. [/aside] [1] http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/04/15/135423586/when-the-u-s-paid-off-the-entire-national-debt-and-why-it-didnt-last http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/04/15/135423586/when-the...