The fact is we are never going to pay off the national debt. Let’s agree on that.
If the immediate goal is to drive down rates so debt can be refinanced at a lower than current rate that’s one consideration.
Another is the revenue that tariffs generate.
But we will make it 2026. And people are going to ask the question I posed earlier - are they better off financially than they were before? That will undoubtedly mean day-to-day better.
We shall see.
I cannot agree that the debt will never be repaid, because that will simply cause that can to be kicked down the road.
All debts are paid. There may be circumstances where that debt will not be repaid in the traditional fashion, but if they end up being paid in blood, territory, or national insolvency, that debt will be paid.
We are already in danger of losing our status as the world’s reserve currency, the ramifications of that being catastrophic for the United States for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the current ability to sell our debt to nations still willing to buy it at favorable rates.
What is important is that we address the debt, in the same way someone who has a loan makes the attempt to pay. We can show we are addressing it by trying to grow our way out of it by building an industrial base. That buys us time. Then there is a chance.