by Calculated Risk on 11/01/2005 02:57:00 PM

Fiscal 2006 is off to a poor start as the increase in the National Debt set a record for the month of October. The National Debt increased $94.4 Billion to $8.027 Trillion as of Oct 31, 2005.


Click on graph for larger image.

The previous record for October was in 2003 (fiscal 2004) when spending for the Iraq war lead to an increase in the National Debt of $89.4 Billion. This October was negatively impacted by spending related to hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Each month I will plot the YTD increase in the National Debt and compare it to the proceeding years. Even without the hurricane spending, I expect fiscal 2006 to set a new record for National Debt accumulation.