MOSCOW, August 21. /TASS/. The growth of US national debt is pushing it toward the $50 trillion mark as early as 2029, which is likely to be accompanied by rising inflation and taxes, spending cuts, high borrowing costs, and diminished confidence in the dollar, though it would be premature to speak of a collapse of the financial system, political scientist and director of the Center for Regional Policy Development Ilya Grashchenkov told TASS.
Earlier, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk agreed with the assessment that things will start to fall apart for the United States when the state debt reaches $50 trillion.
"The forecast that US national debt will reach the $50 trillion mark by 2030 is entirely realistic. At current rates, this could happen even sooner, in 2029, especially if a new recession occurs, large-scale military spending continues, or the authorities adopt further economic support programs," Grashchenkov said.
Meanwhile, the $50 trillion mark itself is not a threshold beyond which the US economy would automatically collapse, the expert noted. "There is no such magic number for sovereign debt. What matters more is the debt-to-GDP ratio, the cost of servicing the debt, and investor confidence. The US borrows in its own currency, the dollar remains the world’s primary reserve asset, and the US financial market is the largest and most liquid. This enables Washington to sustain a debt burden that would have already become critical for most other countries," he explained.
