At the close of business on Aug. 31–for the first time in the history of the country–the publicly held debt of the federal government topped $10 trillion, according to data released by the U.S. Treasury Department at 4:00 p.m. yesterday.

During Obama’s presidency, debt held by the public has now increased by $3.71694 trillion–or almost 59 percent from the $6.3073 trillion in debt held by the public that the government owed to its creditors on Jan. 20, 2009, when Obama was inaugurated.

Also, according to the most recent reports available from the Treasury and the Federal Reserve, approximately $6.1 trillion of that debt—or about 61 percent of it—is owned by foreign interests (led by the Chinese and the Japanese) and by the Federal Reserve.

At the close of business on Aug. 30, as reported by the Treasury Department’s Bureau of the Public Debt, the federal government’s debt held by the public equaled $9,990,126,772,846.86. By the close of business on Aug. 31, it was $10,024,253,354,407.07.

The Treasury divides the debt of the U.S. government into two general categories: “debt held by the public” and “intragovermental” debt.

The “intragovernmental” debt is money the Treasury has borrowed out of government trust funds—including the Social Security trust fund—to use on federal expenses other than those the trust funds were set up to cover. This “intragovernmental” debt is money the government owes itself.

The ‘debt held by the public,” according to the Treasury, includes “all federal debt held by individuals, corporations, state or local governments, foreign governments, and other entities outside the United States Government.” Among the types of Treasury securities included in the “debt held by the public” are Treasury bills (which mature in one year or less), Treasury notes (which mature in two to 10 years), Treasury bonds (which mature in 30 years), U.S. Savings Bonds, and Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities.

At the close of business on Aug. 31, the total outstanding debt of the U.S. government—including both the debt held by the public and the intragovernmental debt–equaled $14,684,292,994,743.93.

Of that $14,684,292,994,743.93 in U.S government debt, $10,024,253,354,407.07 was debt held by the public and $4,660,039,640,336.86 was intragovernmental debt.

From Obama’s inauguration as president on Jan. 20, 2009 through Aug. 31, 2011, the total debt of the U.S. government increased $4.05742 trillion. But most of that increase—roughly 92 percent—has been from the increase in debt held by the public as opposed to an increase in intragovernmental debt.

When Obama was inaugurated, the overall federal debt was $10.6269 trillion, with about $6.3073 trillion of that in debt held by the public and $4.3196 trillion in intragovernmental debt.

By Aug. 31, 2011, the debt held by the public had increased by about $3.71694 trillion during Obama’s presidency while intragovernmental debt had increased only by $340.47 billion.

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