Wayne Harris - Lee Lofaso  writes:

> Hi, Lee!
>
> Lee Lofaso - Wayne Harris  writes:
>
>> Hello Wayne,
>>
>>  WH> [...]
>>
>>  WH>>> So here's a pretty simple question.  Is there an _official_
>>  WH>>> reporter of the US national debt?  (If so, where does it show
>>  WH>>> it the amount?)
>>
>>  >> The Department of the Treasury.
>>  >> The stats can be viewed online.
>>
>>  WH> That makes perfect sense.  I get to
>>  WH>  
https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/faqs/Markets/Pages/national-debt.aspx
>>  WH> and then I go to
>>  WH>   https://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/pd.htm
>>
>>  WH> The question is which report tells me the total national debt and
where.
>>  WH> I'm not interested in budget deficits or anything.  I just to see how
>>  WH> and where does the Treasury report the total national debt.  Can you
>>  WH> point an accurate arrow to it?  I appreciate that!  Thanks!
>>
>> Here is a site that breaks it down in chunks, year by year -
>>
>> https://www.thestreet.com/politics/national-debt-year-by-year-14876008
>
> Wonderful!  Thanks so much for this.
>
>> You can find the same info at the Department of the Treasury site,
>> but it is not nearly as colorful. :)
>
> I suppose.  I'll do this confirmation as my next step.

The Treasury on

  https://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/pd_debttothepenny.htm

reports the national total debt as far back as 2009.  If we look at the
table built by thestreet.com, we see that in 2009 they picked the number

  11,909,829,003,511.70

and the Treasury reports that number on September 30th 2009:

  09/30/2009's total debt of $11,909,829,003,511.75

We can see thestreet.com rounds down the cents.  If we compare 2018, we
see thestreet.com picked the number

  21,516,058,183,180.20

and the Treasury reports that number on September 29th 2018:

  09/28/2018's total debt of $21,516,058,183,180.23.

The Treasury is currently offering a new data provider at

  https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/datasets/debt-to-the-penny/

where we can get the data going back to 1993.  That seems to be all they
can offer at the moment.  Thestreet.com did a nice summary over those
very interesting years.  I wish I could drop the author a thank you
note, something which wouldn't even come up were not for Lee Lofaso's
advising and assistance.  My sincere THANKS!

I've just verified that 2 + 2 = 4.  My most profound step so far.

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