Carlton has a nice series of charts providing a graphic representation of the rapid growth of U.S. debt over at the RGD blog:
Even more striking is the annual percentage change in the debt. Between 2002 and 2006 there is a surge in growth, presumably to fund the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, peaking in 2003 at around 9%, but the growth begins to slow down again until 2008, when it surges over 11%, and then in 2009 it jumps to almost 19%.
Needless to say, the recent post-2007 surge is in direct contradiction to the 10% contraction in private debt that has taken place over the same period.