you know we have to pay interest on that $11,000,000,000,000 to the people that own the debt. you realize that the payments we make on only SOME of the interest we owe (that's right, we almost never have enough to cover all of JUST the interest) is one of the largest expenditures of the money the fed gov spends with our tax dollars. why don't we care? is it because we are arrogant, and frankly, ignorant of the magnitude of this problem? surely not.