As US debt spirals to $22 trillion, former Fed chair Janet Yellen is suddenly concerned

Published time: 13 Dec, 2018 11:13

Get short URL

© Getty Images / Hiroshi Watanabe

Latest data from the US Treasury Department shows that the federal government is sitting on $21.85 trillion of debt. At current pace it is likely to hit the $22 trillion mark next month.

America’s gross national debt skyrocketed by $11.2 trillion in less than 11 years, according to statistics. It means the government has been adding an average of more than a trillion dollars a year to the national debt for more than a decade.

Total public debt outstanding has risen by $1.36 trillion, or 6.6 percent, since the start of the year, and by $1.9 trillion since US President Trump took office. The latter figure is about the size of Brazil’s gross domestic product.

ALSO ON RT.COMUS kleptocrats & multinationals rip off taxpayers by parking billions offshore – economist to RT

With America’s national debt rising at the fastest pace since 2012, the global financial elite have started warning about the possibility of a new financial crisis.

“I think things have improved, but then I think there are gigantic holes in the system…The tools that are available to deal with emerging problems are not great in the United States,” former chair of the US Federal Reserve Janet Yellen said on Monday.

READ MORE: Former Fed chair warns of ‘gigantic holes in the system’ & new financial meltdown risk

She cited leverage loans as an area of concern, saying regulators could only address such problems at individual banks not throughout the financial system.

“I’m not sure we’re working on those things in the way we should, and then there remains holes, and then there’s regulatory pushback. So I do worry that we could have another financial crisis,” Yellen said.

Janet Yellen was appointed by former president Barack Obama to head the US Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2018 when she was fired by current president Donald Trump. During that period, US national debt ballooned from $17 billion to $21 billion.

ALSO ON RT.COMHow much interest does US pay on its massive debt pile? RT’s Keiser Report explains

Deputy head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) David Lipton warned that “the storm clouds of the next global financial crisis are gathering despite the world financial system being unprepared for another downturn.”

“As we have put it, ‘fix the roof while the sun shines’. But, like many of you, I see storm clouds building and fear the work on crisis prevention is incomplete,” he added.