This article, published in Knowledge@Wharton, from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, discusses the impact of the soaring U.S. national debt, including the breakdown of public debt, and intra-government debt. For context, it also examines the relative size of U.S. debt through various historical periods since the conclusion of the Second World War. The article looks at various remedies to the U.S. debt burden, including the politically difficult combination of raising taxes and cutting expenditures; as well as the potential consequences – termed "catastrophic" by one panelist - of defaulting on that debt. Published May 2012.