Feel free to check the math for yourself here.

Another way to state the point of this cartoon: if you earned $1000 per second, every second, for exactly half of a millenium, you still wouldn’t have enough money to cover the current U.S. debt.  Keep in mind the $16 trillion does not account for unfunded liabilities, which were recently estimated to bring actual U.S. debt to $222 trillion.

And in case your wondering… 222 trillion milliseconds ago was around 5000 BCE – predating the dawn of Sumerian civilization.  $85 billion is “devastating”?  Again, 16 trillion milliseconds ago, the Sistine Chapel ceiling hadn’t yet been painted; 85 billion milliseconds ago, we already had the iPad.  Maybe it’s time we get serious about our current financial situation.