In introducing his 2011 budget plan this morning, President Barack Obama said "our government is deeply in debt after what can only be described as a decade of profligacy."

He wasn't kidding. Check the numbers below, from the administration's budget materials, that show how the gross federal debt — what the government owes for all the borrowing its done — has grown and is expected to continue growing in coming years.

You're looking at figures that start with $50.7 billion of debt in 1940 and rise to an estimated $13.8 trillion this year and on to a projected $19.7 trillion in 2015. By our calculations, that means the debt has gone from about $337 per American in 1940 to about $44,675 per American today (that's a 133-fold increase, vs. the 16-fold increase in consumer prices over the same period):

 

Year... Gross Federal Debt
(in millions of dollars)

1940... 50,696
1941... 57,531
1942... 79,200
1943... 142,648
1944... 204,079

1945... 260,123
1946... 270,991
1947... 257,149
1948... 252,031
1949... 252,610

1950... 256,853
1951... 255,288
1952... 259,097
1953... 265,963
1954... 270,812

1955... 274,366
1956... 272,693
1957... 272,252
1958... 279,666
1959... 287,465

1960... 290,525
1961... 292,648
1962... 302,928
1963... 310,324
1964... 316,059

1965... 322,318
1966... 328,498
1967... 340,445
1968... 368,685
1969... 365,769

1970... 380,921
1971... 408,176
1972... 435,936
1973... 466,291
1974... 483,893

1975... 541,925
1976... 628,970
(Transition to new fiscal year)... 643,561
1977... 706,398
1978... 776,602

1979... 829,467
1980... 909,041
1981... 994,828
1982... 1,137,315
1983... 1,371,660

1984... 1,564,586
1985... 1,817,423
1986... 2,120,501
1987... 2,345,956
1988... 2,601,104

1989... 2,867,800
1990... 3,206,290
1991... 3,598,178
1992... 4,001,787
1993... 4,351,044

1994... 4,643,307
1995... 4,920,586
1996... 5,181,465
1997... 5,369,206
1998... 5,478,189

1999... 5,605,523
2000... 5,628,700
2001... 5,769,881
2002... 6,198,401
2003... 6,760,014

2004... 7,354,657
2005... 7,905,300
2006... 8,451,350
2007... 8,950,744
2008... 9,986,082

2009... 11,875,851
2010 (est.)... 13,786,615
2011 (est.)... 15,144,029
2012 (est.)... 16,335,662
2013 (est.)... 17,453,482

2014 (est.)... 18,532,303
2015 (est.)... 19,683,285