US handling of high national debt unclear: Germany

Germany’s Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has voiced concern over the current uncertainty about how the US government would handle its high national debt.

“Ahead of the election in the United States, there is great uncertainty about the course American politics will take in dealing the US government’s debts, which are much too high,” Schaeuble said while addressing German Parliament on Tuesday.

The US Treasury Department announced last week that the country’s national debt swelled past USD 16 trillion.

When US President Barack Obama took office in 2009, the US debt stood at USD 10.6 trillion, but the figure has soared despite his pledge to cut it by half by 2012.

The country’s high national debt gave cause to Republican’s criticism of Obama. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney released a video condemning “the enormous debt” being left under Obama administration while he had earlier vowed to halve debt by the end of his term in office.

House Speaker John Boehner considered America’s high debt as “sad reminder of President Obama’s broken promise” to slash the deficit.