Trump Says Inflation Can Shrink America’s Debt “Very Rapidly”

VBL Goldfix ^ | Friday, Oct 02, 2026 | VBL Goldfix

[wafflehouse]

President Donald Trump said “certain levels of inflation” can reduce the burden of the national debt “very rapidly,” putting a long-running bond-market concern into unusually direct language.

The remarks came in a TIME interview conducted Monday and published Thursday, and were reported by the Wall Street Journal’s Nick Timiraos. Trump also said Federal Reserve interest-rate policy is hurting the economy more than inflation and blamed high rates for making it harder to reduce federal deficits.

“Certain levels of inflation will also pay off that debt very rapidly. Very rapidly.”

Pressed on how Washington could bring down the debt burden, Trump added:

“I don’t want to tell you what those means are, but you can pay off the debt through other means.”

For bondholders, the issue is straightforward. Higher inflation reduces the real value of fixed-rate debt if yields do not rise enough to compensate, effectively shifting part of the burden away from the borrower and onto holders of long-duration government bonds.

Trump also criticized the Fed’s rate-setting committee after its unanimous decision last month to raise rates to fight persistent inflation. He called the board “very hostile” while largely sparing Chairman Kevin Warsh, whom he said was constrained by other members of the committee.

[wafflehouse]

I am as pro-trump as you can get, however advocating inflation to pay off the debt..

THIS IS WHERE I GET OFF THE TRUMP EXPRESS

i cant afford hamburger anymore. sounds like i may stay home on election day. here comes the blue wave. and trump will go to prison when they impeach him out of office and "trump" up some stupid charges against him. again. im pissed off.

[Antoninus]

He’s right, but only if we have a balanced budget. As long as we don’t, inflation is a killer as it drives the cost of borrowing hundreds of billions of more dollars through the roof.

[Antihero101607]

Nick Fuentes, is that you?

[Jim W N]

Trump makes a good General and Negotiater and Anti-Leftist.

Trump is great at business but not economics.

I think his economic star is descending.

[BobL]

Even though what he says makes sense as the foreign bond holders (lenders) will get far less back than what they paid (in real terms), Trump would probably do better to let others talk about what our economy needs, at least though the election.

[Dennis M.]

I like Trump, but he sure can screw up some times.

[oldtech]

The problem with balancing the budget...and we do need to balance it, I think....is that no sooner than it is balanced, the slow thinkers in Congress will assume the way is clear for greatly enhanced spending once again. They should be trying to get a few things done that really need doing, but then settle down to greatly reduced spending as much as is possible.

[PghBaldy]

Weimar Germany discovered this too...

[Kleon]

The remarks came in a TIME interview

Cosider the source.

[GrootheWanderer]

Econ 101. He needs to take it.

[oldtech]

I’ve had one hamburger in what has been quite a long time now.....because of beef prices. It seemed to me like the quality was noticeably reduced, so it may be awhile before I have another, but I can really enjoy a good hamburger..IF it is truly a good one.

[wafflehouse]

RuPaul is that you?

[fruser1]

This is why the fed creates perpetual inflation.

Consider if you have a 30 year fixed mortgage and don’t make any extra payments.

After 30 years of inflation, that mortgage payment seems trivial.

However, the country is not a mortgage. I’d say we need a year’s worth of deflation.

Inflation only helps those that leverage heavily - namely government and large businesses.

[Justa]

It’s the Weimer way.

Since the US came off the Gold Standard in ‘74 prudent investors have been investing in stock assets, land and commodities.

Hint: you have to invest in assets which track with inflation, not an absolute value, like gold -or bonds.

[Theophilus]

Inflation can shrink Americas wealth very rapidly.

[wafflehouse]

balancing the budget is what we need, but a lot of damage has already been done. the inflation isnt coming back out of the economy. budgeting is congress and it is they who are stealing money from us via inflation

but congress will not do it

so either pick republicans who steal from us or socialists who steal from us

[wafflehouse]

he said it as far as i can tell

[Kleon]

But did they report it correctly? Was his tone jokey or serious? There are a lot of ways Time Magazine can lie while quoting Trump.

[Gen.Blather]

Vote Democrat. I’m sure that will help cut down on inflation. Or, better still, stay home and wait for the Republicans to put up better candidates. That’s always worked too.

[Antoninus]

so either pick republicans who steal from us or socialists who steal from us

Republicans are the stupid party -- they will do things that they think will help keep them in office, which often includes funding Democrat priorities to attempt to woo moderates. If we can weed out this variety of Republicans using the primary process (and we've been able to do a pretty good job of that this cycle), this can be fixed.

Democrats are the evil party -- they push ever greater money into social services under the auspices of helping the poor, but in reality, their goal is to enrich themselves and their allies via looting said social services. This has been made crystal clear over the past 2-6 years. No one should vote for the Left under any circumstances.