Zowie By BabyloneToday

Well the August number is in. As of the end of August fiscal 2006
interest paid on the Federal debt so far this fiscal year was a whopping
385 billion dollars. This blew away the former annual record total, set
in 2000, by over 20 billion dollars. And there is still another month
to go in this fiscal year! As of August 31 this debt interest
represented 66% of our nation's total on budget deficit for fiscal 2006.
It is much more than reasonable to expect that this fiscal year's annual
total will top well over 400 billion. Tragically, the average maturity
of U.S. indebtedness has shrunk to around 55 months. This means that
the total interest paid still includes notes from a period in which the
government enjoyed some of the lowest interest rates in 40 years. Since
then T-bill rates and Fed Funds have tripled. Where should we suppose
this leaves us for 2007, as our nation, and average debt maturity,
settles into this period of higher rates?

Link to chart: http://www.babylontoday.com/#interest_expense

Scroll for chart comparing 2005 to 2006 interest by month

click on picture to enlarge