What Could America’s $18 Trillion Debt Buy?

$3.3 trillion

One year of health care spending in the U.S.

OUR DEBT COULD cover the costs of a kidney transplant for 54.4 million people (nearly the populations of California and Florida combined)

$742 billion

Market value of Apple

OUR DEBT COULD buy everyone in the world an Apple Watch, an iPad, an iPhone 6 and a 13-in. MacBook Air

$3.07 trillion

All U.S. consumer debt (autos, credit cards, student loans)

OUR DEBT COULD pay down all U.S. consumer debt, plus all U.S. mortgage debt, and still leave enough to buy every homeless person in the U.S. a $10 million mansion

$631 billion

U.S. national defense budget in 2015

OUR DEBT COULD buy 1,000 nuclear-armed submarines and 3,000 B-2 Spirit bombers

$68 billion

Value of every NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL team

OUR DEBT COULD pay every U.S. teacher $5 million a year–the average salary of an NBA player

$1.05 trillion

Collective cost of the top 200 U.S. weather disasters since 1980

OUR DEBT COULD finance repairs and cleanup for over 100 Hurricane Katrina–level disasters

$254 billion

One year of U.S. summer-vacation spending

OUR DEBT COULD send every American on a Caribbean vacation every year for the next 30 years

$3.8 trillion

One year of the gross domestic product of Germany, the world’s fourth largest economy

OUR DEBT COULD buy over 1 billion tons of Bavarian bratwurst

$4.4 trillion

U.S. war spending since 9/11, including veterans’ medical costs to 2054

OUR DEBT COULD finance eight wars proportionate to the war in Iraq

$60,088

Four years of public-college tuition, room and board in the U.S.

OUR DEBT COULD cover four years of public college for every American under age 75

$1.2 trillion

One year of fast-food and casual-restaurant spending worldwide

OUR DEBT COULD reimburse every fast-food purchase made in the past 15 years worldwide

NOTE: U.S. DEBT INCLUDES TOTAL PUBLIC DEBT AND INTRAGOVERNMENTAL HOLDINGS. SOURCES: U.S. TREASURY; MILLIMAN NCES; CENSUS; W.R. HAMBRECHT; FORBES; GALLUP; AMERICAN EXPRESS; MULTIVU.COM; DOD; NOAA; EUROMONITOR; CMS; FEDERAL RESERVE; IMF; COSTSOFWAR.ORG