National Debt Per Capita (Musical Tribute)

The shaded area represents our last recession.

This chart shows how much official government debt we've racked up in the past few years per person and is adjusted for inflation. We often joke of helicopters dropping money to make us spend. I think I still hear them flying.

How did you spend your money? Here were just a few of the many options.

1. One box of cereal (on sale for $2.74 a box) for every man, woman, and child in this country, per day.
2. One big screen television ($2,000) for every man, woman, and child in this country, every other year (total of three each).
3. One new car ($24,000) for every four people in this country.

If you don't feel like you were given that much money for how much debt you took on, that's okay. I don't think anyone does. Much of the stuff that was purchased was probably just pushed out of a plane in Iraq.



House is haunted
I just want to go for a ride
Out and on
Before I set this room alight
Left alone
Forever and for crimes unclear
With my patience gone
Someone take me far from here

Burning that gasoline
Yeah
Burning that gasoline

See Also:
National Debt (adjusted by CPI)

Source Data:
The Debt to the Penny and Who Holds It
Consumer Price Indexes (CPI)
National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
St. Louis Fed: Population Data