US gross debt shot up $238 billion to reach 100 percent of gross domestic product after the government’s debt ceiling was lifted, Treasury figures showed.On Tuesday, the Treasury had to add more than $200 billion of commitments immediately after President Barack Obama signed into law an increase in the debt ceiling. The liabilities had been temporarily taken off the federal government’s balance sheet since May 16, when the Treasury reached the $14.29 trillion official cap.It then used extraordinary measures to remain under the legal limit while deeply polarized Republicans and Democrats battled over raising the debt ceiling and reining in the country’s massive deficit. The new borrowing took total public debt to $14.58 trillion, over end-2010 GDP of $14.53 trillion, putting the United States in a league with highly indebted countries like Italy and Belgium. - google AP
