The US gross national debt has crossed $39 trillion. That number is growing by roughly $5 billion every single day since October, which works out to an annualized borrowing pace of approximately $1.8 trillion.
To put $39 trillion in perspective: divided evenly among every person in the country, each American’s share of the national debt sits at about $114K, according to the Peter G. Peterson Foundation. That’s more than the median home price in several US states. And the tab keeps growing.
The math behind the spiral
Here’s the thing about government debt at this scale. It stops being an abstract policy debate and starts becoming a line item that eats the budget alive.
Interest payments on the national debt have now surpassed what the federal government spends annually on Medicare and Medicaid combined. Let that sink in. The cost of servicing old borrowing now exceeds the cost of providing healthcare to tens of millions of Americans.
