The official debt of the U.S. government is currently $36.2 trillion. This amounts to $106,024 for every person in the nation, $273,567 for every household, 7.1 times annual federal revenues, and 125% of annual U.S. economic output (GDP). That doesn’t include the liabilities and unfunded obligations of the federal government, which are about three times the size of the debt. The consequences of government debt can manifest gradually or abruptly in the form of reduced wages and living standards, higher inflation and taxes, or combinations of such results. Because government debt hurts people through economic mechanisms that are not obvious to them, voters seldom hold politicians accountable for running up debt, and the harmful effects continue.