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Posted on 03/27/2026 1:53:15 PM PDT by Angelino97
On March 17, the U.S. national debt slipped past $39 trillion.
If you're thinking, 'Wow, it seems like we just crossed the $38 trillion threshold,' you are correct. It was a mere 150 days ago on October 21.
As of March 17, the national debt stood at $39,016,762,910,245.14.
This happened despite a 294 percent increase in tariff revenue and the media relations program known as DOGE.
The pace of debt accumulation is staggering, and it’s accelerating.
In 2020, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected that the debt wouldn’t hit $37 trillion until 2030.
Oops.
Just how fast is Uncle Sam shoveling more debt into the Debt Black Hole?
Here’s some perspective. The national debt hit $34 trillion in January 2024 and $35 trillion in November 2024.
From there, it took 188 days for the debt to grow from $35 trillion to $36 trillion. It took another 265 days to reach $37 trillion. But don’t be fooled. The borrowing didn’t slow down between $36 and $37 trillion. It was just that the federal government ran up against the debt ceiling on January 1. As a result, it couldn’t borrow any money until the enactment of the “Big Beautiful Bill,” which raised the debt ceiling by $5 trillion as of July 1.
At that time, the national debt stood at $36.2 trillion. It took less than two months for the federal government to borrow more than $800 billion, pushing the debt over $37 trillion. Barely two months later, we were at $38 trillion, and here we are today, just 150 days later.
It’s hard to fathom $39 trillion. What does that even mean?
Here’s some perspective.
Every U.S. citizen would have to write a $113,615 check to pay off the debt.
Of course, a lot of people don't pay taxes. That means the taxpayer burden is much higher. Every U.S. taxpayer would have to write a check for $357,068 to wipe out the debt. And that's on top of the taxes we already pay!
Looking at it another way, $39 trillion is more than the annual GDP of China, Germany, India, Japan, and the UK combined.
If you’re wondering why the markets are so worried about the Federal Reserve holding interest rates higher for longer, look no further than the Debt Black Hole.
Uncle Sam must pay interest on the nearly $39 trillion debt. Interest expense has grown into the second-largest spending category in the federal budget behind only Social Security.
In February, the Treasury forked out $93.48 billion on interest expense alone. That pushed interest expense to $520 billion through the first five months of fiscal 2026. That was up 8.8 percent compared to the same period in fiscal ’25.
Interest on the national debt cost $1.2 trillion in fiscal 2025. That was up 7.3 percent over 2024.
Net interest (interest expense – interest receipts) was $79 billion in February.
Through the first five months of the fiscal year, the federal government spent more on interest on the debt than it did on national defense ($412 billion) or Medicare ($478 billion). The only higher spending category is Social Security ($678 billion).
Much of the debt currently on the books was financed at very low rates before the Federal Reserve started its hiking cycle. Every month, some of that super-low-yielding paper matures and must be replaced by bonds yielding much higher rates. And even after the Federal Reserve cut rates, Treasury yields have pushed upward as demand for U.S. debt sags.
When people say the spending is unsustainable, it feels like an understatement. However, very few people in the political class seem the least bit interested in tackling the problem. The bad news is that at some point, the problem is going to tackle them.
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To whom are we paying interest?
And nobody’s doing a thing about it. Both parties have apparently just given up.
To the owners of t-bills.
1828. That is the one and only time Federal debt was at zero. The reason debt persists is that Congress critters don’t get elected based on the amount of money they save. Milton Friedman argued that a Balanced Budget Amendment is the only hope for taming Fedzilla. The only way America is going to get that is through a Convention Of States.
The only way out is the Iceland way and then rebuild.
@ 3/4 of it goes to US based banks and private investors.
The rest foreign governments and banks, Japan being the largest of that percentage.
The politicians also buy a disproportionate amount of American bonds, so they have a self interest in ensuring the debt is always renewed.
Infuriating.
This is either ignorance or willful lying.
The Federal Reserve could reduce its Federal Funds Rate to 0% tomorrow, and that isn't going to do a damn thing to change what investors will demand for a return on U.S. Treasury debt.
The rate on a 10-year U.S. Treasury bond rose above 4.4% today. It's up more than 40 points in the last 30 days.
I get the feeling that “money” is going to stop being an important concept. We won’t worry about the debt. We won’t do Zimbabwe inflation, we won’t tax our way out of it, none of that stuff. We will just ignore it, print green paper and just keep rolling on. I think we will get rid of the income tax, back the currency with some set of metals and move away from fiat currency. Either that or go full digital currency where none of the numbers have to make sense.
All I can say for sure is that the US government isn’t taking the debt seriously at all. They know something.
Congressman Andy Biggs (R)Az-5 just attempted to get a Balanced Budget Amendment passed. It failed. The funny thing is when Andy was President of the Arizona Senate he opposed the Convention Of States (COS). After he got to Washington, Arizona passed it's application without him. A COS is about the only way a Balanced Budget Amendment is going to get passed.
Republicans have no plan to stop this runaway train.
It will go off the tracks someday.
That’s the first day most Americans will give a damn.
Why should it be up to the Republicans?
George W. Bush did try to overhaul Social Security in 2005 but he was called out for it. He was actually proposing private accounts for younger workers. Of course that went nowhere.
Many in Congress want to kick the can down the road and do not have the courage to deal with the debt, illegal immigration and border security, fraud on the government, voter fraud, etc. How can they face their children and grandchildren and leave this mess to them?
A trillion here, a trillion there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money
$2 Trillion annual debt payments are coming in the not distant future.
And if the war in Iran goes on and the Strait is closed to shipping, $200 oil is coming too.
We should have stopped these mullahs decades ago.
No easy way out.
“most Americans” didn’t vote for deficit spending. And it’s DEMOCRATS who spend the most. But you blame Republicans for ‘having no plan’?
Only ppl with foreign allegiance don’t ‘give a damn’.
How ‘bout stop spending our money fighting other ppls’ wars? That’ll save a few T.
And how ‘bout stop electing deficit-spending Dems? That’ll save even more Ts.
Some 20 years ago, some economists estimated the total cost of the Iraq War at $6 trillion.
That included the medical costs for veterans for their entire estimated lifetimes.
I sense a disturbance in the Force!
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