Two months ago, when it was calculated that the US would need a new debt ceiling of $19.6 trillion to last until after Obama's tenure, it may have been overoptimistic: since the hard limit of $18.15 trillion which was raised at the end of October, the US appears to be growing its debt at a far faster pace than had originally been expected, and according to the latest public debt data, as of the last day of January, total US debt just hit 19,012,827,698,417.93.
