May 6, 2020: As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the federal government expects to borrow an unprecedented $3 trillion between April and June this year.^[1]

To put that number into perspective, that’s far more than the federal government has ever borrowed before in a full year. The all-time high level of borrowing for a year was reached in the midst of the financial crisis during 2009. In that year, the government borrowed a total of $1.8 trillion (60% of what it will borrow in the current three-month period).^[1]

The only relatively comparable expansion of federal debt took place in World War II. At the end of that global battle, the federal debt was more than double the nation’s annual income.^[2] For decades, the relative debt was then trimmed to reach just over 30% of the national income by the 1970s and early 1980s.^[3]

Since then, the federal debt has grown steadily. In 2013, the amount owed exceeded the nation’s aggregate income for the first time since shortly after World War II.^[3]

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Each weekday, Scott Rasmussen’s Number of the Day explores interesting and newsworthy topics at the intersection of culture, politics, and technology. Columns published on Ballotpedia reflect the views of the author.

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