Our National Debt Hits $40 Trillion. No One Seems to Care.
Recently, our national debt topped $40 trillion dollars.
Nobody seems to care.
President Trump wants to make America great again. But he's doing it on the backs of our future generations by handing them a mountain of debt they can never repay. Anyone interested in making America truly great would make the hard decisions to balance our revenue and spending and keep them under control. But Trump won't do this. Biden didn’t. Obama didn’t. Bush didn’t. Clinton didn’t. Neither will anyone else.
Our debt is growing by $7.91B each day. That’s over $90,000 per second.
Just let that sink in. Nearly $8B/day. $90,000/second.
This isn't a Republican or Democrat problem. This is an American problem. Both parties and all Presidents have added to the debt. The issue receives attention, but not the sustained political resolve required to address it. We demand services and free stuff from the government, but we want someone else to pay for it.
Every dollar committed to interest is a dollar unavailable for national defense, infrastructure, research, disaster response, or assistance to vulnerable citizens. Rising interest costs don’t just create an accounting problem; they restrict the nation’s future capacity to govern.
Here are some other facts no one will talk about:
It costs $3B/day just to service the interest on the debt
We will spend $1T in 2026 to service the interest on the debt
Debt servicing costs will consume 3.3% of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product
Interest payments are absorbing 19% of all Federal tax revenues
We spend more in interest payments than we do on defense spending
Future estimations are ominous. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that in ten years,
The annual deficit will be over $3T
The debt will be 120% of GDP
Net interest payments will be $2.1T, equal to all domestic and defense spending
National debt will consume 24.4% of the entire U.S. economy
If international investors and financial markets lose confidence in the U.S. government's ability to manage its budget, they will demand much higher interest rates (yields) to buy Treasury bonds. This will accelerate the potential for a sovereign debt crisis.
According to stress tests by the Wharton Budget Model, if U.S. debt held by the public crosses into an "unsustainable bound" (estimated between 175% and 210% of GDP), the resulting interest rate spikes could rapidly cause debt servicing costs to spiral, potentially matching or overtaking tax receipts in a worst-case default.
The danger is not that collapse is certain tomorrow; it is that delay narrows the range of prudent, humane choices available later.
During a sovereign debt crisis, cash savings typically lose purchasing power, while the domestic currency experiences a sharp depreciation or devaluation. When a government faces default or can no longer easily borrow money, it impacts the entire nation's financial system, fundamentally altering the value of money and personal wealth.
A credible solution will require difficult tradeoffs: slower growth in major spending programs, a more adequate and equitable revenue base, disciplined annual appropriations, and reforms that protect those least able to absorb sudden changes.
Either we can intentionally and purposefully cut spending while increasing taxes or we ignore this problem and let it grow right under our noses. I prefer the former, but clearly, most everyone, including elected officials in both parties, prefer the latter.
An economic D-Day is coming to America. Washington’s actions have not matched the scale of the problem We'd better wake up and face this problem head on because it we don't, our wealth, savings, power, influence, sovereignty, and way of life will come crashing down around us and there will be nothing we can do about it. Ignoring this problem won't make American great again. It will destroy us.
