It is the unenviable task of the Debt Management Office, the agency that manages the nation's debt, to sound out investors and report back to the chancellor on whether what the FT has christened Osborne Bonds will fly.

BBC: Should Osborne borrow for 100 years?

By the end of 2011, the Office of Management and Budget expects the gross amount of federal debt to exceed the size of America's entire economy for the first time in over 65 years.

WSJ: Rick Perry: My Tax and Spending Reform Plan