American workers would have to cough up a one-time "debt reduction fee" of $106,000 to pay off the nation's debt that has grown 58 percent under President Obama, according to Harvard University's Institute of Politics annual report on the USA.
The 91-page report provided to Secrets pegged the nation's debt at $16.7 trillion, up from the $10.6 trillion inherited by Obama. "The debt has grown so quickly because of large and repeated annual deficits in federal spending," said the report.
What's more, the Annual Report of the USA, from the student at the Harvard Political Review and done in partnership with the American Education Foundation, found that food stamp usage has surged 77 percent during the recession and that Social Security benefits will be slashed 23 percent starting in 2033 unless Congress and the White House institute sweeping reforms.
The report is considered one of the nation's authoritative independent analysis review of federal spending. One of the best benefits of the report is that the authors try to put huge numbers like the debt in perspective.
"Such large sums are difficult to conceptualize properly," said the student authors in their report.