>Because of those low rates, the amount the U.S. government pays to service its debt is, relative to the size of the economy, less than it was paying throughout

>Because of those low rates, the amount the U.S. government pays to service its debt is, relative to the size of the economy, less than it was paying throughout the boom years of the 1980s and 1990s and for most of the last decade. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that net interest on the debt (which is what the government pays to service it) would be $225 billion for fiscal year 2011. The latest figures put that a bit higher, so let’s call it $250 billion. That’s about 1.6% of American output, which is lower than at any point since the 1970s – except for 2003 through 2005, when it was closer to 1.4%. http://moneyland.time.com/2011/07/15/the-u-s-is-not-drowning-in-debt/#ixzz1UGLufxzS http://moneyland.time.com/2011/07/15/the-u-s-is-not-drowning... Yes, we should do what we can as a matter of course to pay down the national debt, but we really weren't any worse off in our ability to pay than we've been in decades. At the very least, manufacturing a crisis out of the matter -- and this one was completely manufactured by the GOP -- that has resulted in making it harder to pay down the debt we already have was a completely daft move.