WASHINGTON - January 3, 2012 - While not news to Zero Hedge readers who knew about the final debt settlement of U.S. debt about 10 days ahead of schedule, it is now official: according to the U.S. Treasury, the federal government closed the books on 2011 with debt at an all time record $15,222,940,045,451.09.

Furthermore, U.S. debt to GDP is now officially over 100%, or 100.3% to be specific, a fact that the government decided to delay exposing until the very end of the calendar year.

We wonder, rhetorically, just how prominent of a talking point this historic event will be in any upcoming GOP primary debates?

Technically this number is greater than the debt ceiling but it excludes various accounting gimmicks. When taking those into account, the U.S. has a debt ceiling buffer of $14 billion, or one third the size of a typical bond auction.