A Better National Debt Graphic

Better than others I have linked to, because it is measured against Gross National Product:

...On the day President Bush took office, the national debt stood at $5.727 trillion. The latest number from the Treasury Department shows the national debt now stands at more than $9.849 trillion. That’s a 71.9 percent increase on Mr. Bush’s watch.

The bailout plan now pending (passed) in Congress could (did) add hundreds of billions of dollars to the national debt – though President Bush said this morning he expects that over time, “much if not all” of the bailout money “will be paid back.”

But the government is taking no chances. Buried deep in the hundred pages of bailout legislation is a provision that would raise the statutory ceiling on the national debt to $11.315 trillion.

Note: if it gets to 11.4 trillion, then Bush will have succeeded in doubling it in 8 years! - CBS news via Yglesias

See previous post on graphs, with household spending, transit and deficits.