"If you take all of the government debt -- including the national, as well state and local, debt -- it’s about $10 trillion right now, but a good part of that is simply government debt owed to another part of the government," explains Dr. Walden, a professor of agricultural and resource economics.

"So it’s like a sister borrowing from a brother. So if you take that out and only look at the government debt owed to the private sector, it’s about $6.5 trillion.

Now, in contrast, household debt right now stands at about $10 trillion, and corporate debt is around $5 trillion," Walden adds.

"Now, in terms of risk -– this is where people perhaps may be surprised –- in terms of risk, government debt is actually viewed as less risky than either household or corporate debt," he says. "It’s very rare -- in fact it’s never happened with the federal government -- where the federal government has defaulted on its debt.

"Yet households do declare bankruptcy periodically –- some do. And corporations do also. So government debt is actually considered much safer."