That's 65% of GDP (and a good argument for PAYGO) A dubious milestone was passed on Tuesday, November 6, as the U.S. national debt crossed the $9 trillion mark. Don't look now (no one likes a clock watcher), but it's billions more already. At 65 percent of GDP, it could be paid off if every good and service produced in the U.S. from January 1 until September 30, 2008 were given free of charge to the nation's creditors. You can spare that nine months' worth of salary, can't you? Coincidence or not, the national debt will have almost doubled during the presidency of George W. Bush, the poster boy for PAYGO.