3 Things to Know about Debt With $422 billion in credit card debt, $1.27 trillion in auto debt, and mortgage debt of $9.1 trillion, America is drowning in debt. But what’s worse than debt? Dead money! Dave Ramsey won’t teach you this, but America is drowning in not only debt, but dead money. From the $9.1 trillion in mortgage debt, over $5 trillion of that is stuck in equity. That’s dead money, and that’s the biggest problem. Here are 3 things to remember today: #1 All debt is not created equal. #2 You can’t grow without debt. #3 Income is senior to debt.