There has been a lot of talk in the past 12 months, about the level of U$ National Debt.
Question: But how large is it ?
Answer: 100% of GDP.
The debt ceiling, the amount the US is legally allowed to borrow is 100% of GDP (a self imposed limit)

The numbers…..

The current limit (debt ceiling) is $14.294 Trillion.
That is $14,294,000,000,000 dollars to be mathematically elegant.

Or in Engli$h: Fourteen Million Million Dollar$. In UK Sterling that is only £8.737 Trillion of course.

To be global, I will try and be equitable to all….

[$14.294 Trillion = EU€ 9.88 Trillion = AUD$ 12.96 Trillion = Chinese Yuan CNY = 91.87 Trillion = Singapore $SGD 17.17 Trillion = Hong Kong $HKD 111.35 Trillion]

Useful to quantify the $14.294 Trillion figure with some good comparisions.

The assets of Bank of New York Mellon under custody are $26.3 Trillion. So the US ‘only’ owes 54% of the assets under custody at Bank of New York Mellon.

The assets at State Street under custody are  $22.8 Trilllion . So the US ‘only’ owes 62% of the assets under custody at State Street.

The assets of Blackrock are $3.66 Trillion. Thus the assets of Blackrock are 25% of the US National Debt.

The assets of HSBC (UK largest bank based on assets) are $2.597 Trillion. Thus the assets of HSBC are 18% of the US National Debt.

The assets of the world’s largest pension fund (The Government Pension Investment Fund of Japan) are $1.315 Trillion. Thus the assets of The Government Pension Investment Fund of Japan are 9.1% of the US National Debt.

BT’s Pension Fund according to Towers Watson, is the largest pension in the UK, and is the world’s 40th largest pension fund with assets on March 31st 2011 of $57.211 Billion (£34.97 Billion)
The BT Pension Fund (assets $57.211 Billion / £34.97 Billion) equates to 0.4% of the US National Debt.

Big numbers.