According to the Department of Treasury’s Auction Staff, the U.S. sold $8.8 trillion in Bills, Notes and Bonds in fiscal year 2009. That number is greater than the entire value of publicly traded debt, which is currently $8.4 trillion. The reason for the enormous amount of debt issuance is our surging annual deficits and rollovers of retiring bonds that must occur more frequently because of the government’s decision to issue debt at the short end of the yield curve.

The astronomical size of the debt the Treasury must auction each year begs a question: Who will buy it? The U.S. as a nation saved a total of $465 billion last year and was saving at a $304 billion annual rate in March. China liquidated $34 billion in Treasuries in December 2009, while Japan and Europe are struggling to meet their own government obligations.  More from Forbes, here.