$10.5 Trillion and Counting: Bill Would Raise...

You may not have noticed this – and maybe you're not supposed to – but tucked away in the housing bailout bill is a provision to raise the national debt ceiling, the total amount the U.S. government is allowed to borrow, to $10.5 trillion. This is no surprise; the national debt has already passed $9.5 trillion and is uncomfortably close to the current limit.

This isn't a reflection on the housing bill. One provision in the bill puts the bailout under the national debt limit, effectively capping how much can be spent to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac without approval from Congress. But raising the debt ceiling is another warning sign that the federal government's financial position is unsustainable. The government has built up this enormous debt at a time when enormous obligations for Medicare and Social Security are starting to come due. Unless something changes, the liabilities the government faces are likely to break the federal budget, drag down the economy and affect the standard of living of every American.

There's still time to solve this. Check out this week's discussion among budget and public policy experts at NewTalk, and read more about the problem in Public Agenda's recent budget books, "Where Does the Money Go?" and "Forgive Us Our Debts".