keep pushing it up? that s a very good question, elisabeth. but we do indeed keep pushing it up. brian: when the president of the united states says our deficit is not really going up when we re raising the debt ceiling, what is he talking about? he says spending is not going up when we re raising the debt ceiling, i don t know what he s talking about. i would contest that point of view. if we raise the debt ceiling, we want to borrow more money. that does indeed add to our total debt. brian: which is $17 trillion. annually we re $670 billion over? correct. our deficit this year, overspending, is $650 billion. our total debt on the screen, $16.961 trillion and rising fast. elisabeth: what does this mean for the average person? what does that mean to me? it means that you, your children and your grandchildren will be paying off that debt forever and a day. it will never go away. and the amount you have to pay back, the interest goes up and up and up and up