The US Treasury immediately took advantage of the budget deficit ceiling being raised. Yesterday, in fact, the federal debt according to the daily bulletin of Tim Geithner's department increased by 238 billion dollars reaching a total of 14.580,7 billion. The United States thus enters the club of countries whose debt is higher than the GDP (14.526,5 billion at the end of 2010).
In reality, Washington had already breached the ceiling in mid-May, hiding the holes behind a series of technical devices, waiting for Parliament to raise the maximum debt limit, which happened in extremis on the evening of 2 August. However, the numbers confirm that, in the absence of an agreement, Washington's coffers would have been dramatically empty from the following morning.
As of today, however, the US has officially crossed the fateful threshold of 100% of the debt on the gross domestic product. A group which includes in order: Japan (226%), Greece (152%), Jamaica (137%), Lebanon (134%), Italy (120%), Ireland (114%) and Iceland ( 103%).
