Over the past several years, a raging debate among debt-watchers was whether Obama would leave the presidency with more than $20 trillion in US national debt. We now have the answer, and can report that Obama failed in this particular endeavor... but just barely. According to the US Treasury, as of the most recent update, total Federal debt was some $39 billion short of the key "psychological level", clocking in at precisely 19,961,467,137,973.64.
This means that both "Dow 20,000" and "Debt $20,000,000,000,000" accomplishments will belong to Trump. It is still unclear which comes first.
And while some may be disappointed, Obama's achievement is still quite impressive: in exactly 8 years, total US debt has increased by $9.3 trillion, or 88% since Obama's first day in office.
On Obama's first day, Jan. 20, 2009, federal debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08. As of the close of business Wednesday, it was $19,961,467,137,973.64. The final debt number for Thursday, Obama’s last full day in office, will not be released until after Donald Trump is sworn in as president on Friday, although it is unlikely to surge by $40 billion.
The total debt added on Obama's almost doubled America's total indebtedness, and was nearly double the $4.9 trillion piled up during the presidency of George W. Bush. It also means that the total debt "owed" by each of America's 124,248,000 full-time employed workers amounts to $160,658, having increased by $75,129 during Obama's tenure.