Mastodawn

US national debt surges past $39 Trillion

https://apnews.com/article/us-national-deficit-hits-39-million-6ff73495bae701b5c009d3da5515ca3a

US national debt surges past $39 trillion

The U.S. national debt has hit a record $39 trillion. The deficit hit the milestone Wednesday just weeks into the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran. The Government Accountability Office says rising debt can raise borrowing costs for mortgages and cars. It can also squeeze wages and push up prices. Budget advocates warn that growing interest payments force tougher tradeoffs. The federal debt has surged under both Republican and Democratic presidents, most recently fueled by wars, large-scale pandemic spending and tax cuts. The U.S. national debt hit $38 trillion five months ago — and $37 trillion two months before that.

AP News

Economists often say that the national debt isn't analogous to consumer debt, because the US has a number of means to address it that the average consumer does not have, including the ability to print money.

And while that's true ... perhaps we as citizens and taxpayers would be better off ignoring that technicality and treating this debt as more like consumer debt.

Eventually, it's going to come back to bite us or our children, and we need to be willing to make some hard choices now to avoid having to make even harder choices later.

Ah yes, the "we can cure debt by going into hyperinflation" argument

cogman10 Mar 19

It's something that the US could uniquely do without going into hyperinflation due to it's status as a reserve currency.

That all, of course, changes if other countries decide they've had enough of our shit and switch over to different reserve currencies like BRICS. And, of course, printing currency to get out of debt is something that would make countries consider dumping the dollar as a reserve currency.

At some point it becomes better option just to take the money you get paid back and instead of loaning it out again buy something... Anything else really... And then it gets worse.

leaves83829 Mar 19

not just eventually. Its coming back to bite you now and for the last 10 years and the next 10 years. if you sell a house, or any kind of equities or gold, you're going to be a world of pain. Most of the "capital gains" aren't gains at all, it's just devaluation of the dollar. Let's say dollar devaluation is roughly 7% per year, that means you're paying 2% to 2.5% of your houses value every year in "capital gains" tax. sure, you don't pay it until you sell, but rest assured, it's accumulating. so 2M house means 40K to 50K per year! and if you think i'm overstating the 7%, just look at the case shiller housing index for the last 10 to 15 years!

and if you're holding cash or bonds, you're even worse off. even if the dollar is devaluing at just 7% per year, that's a 50% loss in just 10 years and that compounds to 75% loss after 20 years.

mitthrowaway2 Mar 19

I used to think that way, but now I don't believe that the debt ever needs to be repaid by anyone's children. The public sector debt is basically just a record of net private sector liquid assets, and repaying it would amount to the private sector losing all of its liquidity, or having to replace it with private debt instead. That's basically what happened throughout the roaring '20s preceding the Great Depression, and I don't think it really ends up being a good move.

The Democratic party would do well if they rebranded as socially progressive and fiscally conservative.

that electorate doesnt exist in two party system.

mattmaroon Mar 19

It can.

Agreed, unfortunately. The amount of people that actually care about the national debt is near zero in reality, despite many stating otherwise.

When their party of choice comes into power, it's always "spend, spend, spend" - how else do you do all the things you want to do while in power? Then the table turns and they pretend to care while the other party takes a turn.

Round and round we go, deeper and deeper in debt, spending like a there's no tomorrow.

That's basically Bernie Sanders modus operandus. Burlington was running budget surpluses when he was in charge.

It's not hard, you just have to make rich people pay taxes. This is an enormously popular idea.

lo_zamoyski Mar 19

Correction: one party with two factions.

6stringmerc Mar 19

Rebranding does not fix rot.

See also: X, Meta, Blackwater…

throwawaysleep Mar 19

Fiscal conservatism only exists as an ideology when paired with hurting brown people. It does not exist as a meaningful political camp otherwise.

There is a reason that fiscal conservatives spend all their time on food stamps and a few random research projects and not even examining any of the top four costs that make up the overwhelming bulk of US spending.

babypuncher Mar 19

Fiscal conservatism is a lie, Republicans have consistently contributed far more to the debt than Democrats, at least during my lifetime.

lowbloodsugar Mar 19

If you look at national debt, the Democratic Party is the fiscally conservative party. Yet you believe the opposite. Propaganda works!

outside2344 Mar 19

Trump has added $4T to the debt in one year:

From https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/datasets/debt-to-the-penny/d...

3/19/2025 $36,214,467,819,348.16. --> 3/17/2026 $39,016,762,910,245.14

Yet strangely all Republicans are silent

Debt to the Penny | U.S. Treasury Fiscal Data

Debt to the Penny is the total debt of the U.S. government and is reported daily. It is made up of intragovernmental holdings and debt held by the public.

Are those numbers backwards or am I seeing things?

outside2344 Mar 19

Sorry, copy and paste error. I copied the public debt number for 2026 instead of the total debt number. Fixed.

christophilus Mar 19

Compounding working the way it always does. This won’t stop until it breaks.

So at what point does us bond ratings go down and cost of borrowing becomes problematic?

I know us is buyoed by the petrodollar, but surely that only goes so far.