Public Notice: An Olympic Sized National Debt

Public Notice: The United States may be giving it their all at the Olympics, but our performance back home is another story. At no point in time, even shortly following WWII, has the amount of debt we have in relation to the size of the economy (GDP) been as large as it is this year. The above infographic presents the the Olympic size debt that we have put ourselves in.

As Europe tries to work out its debt crisis, the Olympics are well underway in London. Uncertainty regarding the future economy remains on the world’s leaders’ minds as nations compete. Here in the U.S., the federal debt is rapidly approaching $16 trillion and people still struggle to find work under a stagnant economy.
Government Spending & the Economy¹
The transnational Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reported this year that debt tends to impact economies when it reaches around 70-80 percent.² And for the current fiscal year, the United States’ debt as a percentage of the economy is expected to reach 104.8 percent³.
Below, we take a look at the U.S. debt as a percentage of the economy in each summer Olympic year, starting in 1948.
Olympic Year / Debt as % of Economy
1948  /  98.2
1952  /  74.3
1956  /  63.9
1960  /  56.0
1964  /  49.3
1968  /  42.5
1972  /  37.1
1976⁴  /  36.2
1980  /  33.4
1984  /  40.7
1988  /  51.9
1992  /  64.1
1996  /  67.1
2000  /  57.3
2004  /  63.0
2008  /  69.7
2012⁵   /  104.8

1. Unless otherwise noted, all numbers sourced from: OMB Historical Table 7.1 “Federal Debt at the End of the Year 1940-2017″
2. OECD. Fiscal Consolidation: How much is needed to reduce debt to a prudent level? April, 2012.
3. OMB Historical Table 7.1 “Federal Debt at the End of the Year 1940-2017″
4. During 1976, the fiscal year shifted from January-December to October-September. The period in between is not included in FY1976’s debt totals.
5. Estimate.

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