THE DEBT THAT ATE AMERICA

(h/t Nate Silver)

Well, not so much, really.  Despite recent borrowing to make up for the Great Recession, the WSJ reveals that our interest payments overall are declining because we've rolled over past debt to take advantage of historically low interest rates:

The interest on the debt load is only costing us about 1.5% of GDP, thanks to the the record low interest rates that we’re paying out in the markets, thanks to the sluggish economy and fact that the Fed has been buying up large chunks of Treasurys. Today the 10-year yield is only 1.41% for instance. Obviously, the shrewd move for Uncle Sam to make right now is to lock in as much of these low rates as possible for as long as possible.

Here's the WSJ graph - the light blue line is the interest rates on the debt: