US debt surges $328 billion in single day, surpassing $17 trillion for first time
Just one day after President Barack Obama signed into law a bipartisan deal to end the government shutdown and avoid default, the US debt surged a record $328 billion, the first day the government was able to borrow money. ● Fasten your seatbelt, because the US debt rate is racing out of control and nobody seems to know where or when the spending will end: The US debt now equals $17.075 trillion, according to figures the Treasury Department posted online on Friday. The one-day increase of $328 billion to the US debt load smashed the previous record of $238 billion set two years ago. The huge leap toward what some economists fear will be eventual insolvency was blamed on the government replenishing its supply of "extraordinary measures," that is, the federal funds it borrowed from over the last five months in a desperate effort to avoid hitting the debt ceiling.