The U.S. debt is the sum of all outstanding debt owed by the federal government. On February 11, 2019, it exceeded $22 trillion. It passed the milestone of $21 trillion on March 15, 2018. The U.S. Treasury Department’s “Debt to the Penny” shows the current total public debt outstanding. This figure changes every day. The debt clock in New York also tracks it.

Two-thirds is debt held by the public. The government owes this to buyers of U.S. Treasury bills, notes, and bonds. That includes individuals, companies, and foreign governments.

The remaining third is intragovernmental debt. The Treasury owes this to its various departments who hold Government Account securities. Social Security and other trust funds are the biggest owners. They have been running surpluses for years. The federal government uses these surpluses to pay for other departments. These securities will come due as baby boomers retire over the next two decades. Since Social Security and trust funds are the largest owners, the answer as to who owns the U.S. debt the most would be: everyone’s retirement money.

The debt is greater than what America produces in a whole year. This high debt-to-gross domestic product ratio tells investors that the country might have problems repaying the loans. That’s a new and worrying occurrence for the United States. In 1988, the debt was only half of America’s economic output.

The chart below tracks U.S. debt from 1989 to 2018. It increased 653 percent during that time. It was $20.245 trillion in September 2017, the end of the government’s fiscal year. It includes both debt held by the public and intragovernmental debt.

There are five significant causes of the size of the national debt. First, the debt is an accumulation of federal budget deficits. Each new program and tax cut adds to the debt. These show up in budget deficits by president. The largest deficit goes to President Obama. He added the ​American Recovery and Reinvestment Act stimulus package, the Obama tax cuts, and $800 billion a year in military spending. These initiatives halted the 2008 financial crisis.

Although the national debt under Obama grew the most, dollar-wise, it wasn’t the biggest percentage increase. That honor goes to Franklin D. Roosevelt. He only added $236 billion, but it was a 1,048 percent increase. He did this to fight the Great Depression and prepare the United States to enter World War II.

President Bush had the second largest deficit. He also fought the financial crisis with the $700 billion bailouts. Bush added the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act and the Jobs Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act tax cuts to end the 2001 recession. He responded to the 9/11 attacks with the War on Terror.

President Reagan cut taxes, increased defense spending, and expanded Medicare. All these presidents also suffered from lower tax receipts resulting from recessions.

Second, every president borrows from the Social Security Trust Fund. The Fund took in more revenue than it needed through payroll taxes leveraged on baby boomers. Ideally, this money should have been invested to be available when the boomers retire. Instead, the Fund was “loaned” to the government to finance increased spending. This interest-free loan helped keep Treasury bond interest rates low, allowing more debt financing. But it must be repaid by increased taxes when the boomers do retire.

Third, countries like China and Japan buy Treasurys to keep their currencies low relative to the dollar.

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Fourth, the U.S. government has benefited from low interest rates.

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Fifth, Congress raises the debt ceiling.

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