Trillions

The government pays $345 billion in interest payments on the national debt. This problem is lessened because the average interest rate paid by the government is only 1.2%. This is with an annual inflation rate of less than 2.5%. One of the many concerns about rising inflation is how it will effect the interest payments. Interest rates of 6% were the norm for much of the past 50 years and that would raise the interest on the debt to over one trillion dollars per year. Not to long ago that would have raised warning signs but in today's world of trillions it doesn't seem so bad.