The government separates out another kind of debt, which is intragovernmental holdings, or debt caused by the government when it borrows from its own accounts. Intragovernmental holdings stood at $4.288 trillion in March 2009, when Obama signed his first big spending bill.
Nearly seven years later, the government has borrowed another $1 trillion from its own accounts, and intragovernmental holdings debt now stands at $5.231 trillion.
Combining the two figures, total national debt was $11 trillion when Obama first had a say in the spending process as president, and as of late last week, it was $18.6 trillion.
The growth in total national debt is something Obama has largely ignored when he speaks about fiscal issues. Instead, he has focused on the decline in the annual budget deficit, which contributes each year to the total national debt.
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