Moreover, economists and policy advisors are concerned by the approach politicians have taken to national debt, saying Washington is not pulling back its spending enough to begin rebalancing the books. <\/p>\n
Even for the world\u2019s biggest economy, the debt mountain that America has accumulated is eye-watering. The problem isn\u2019t the $38 trillion itself. In fact, the trading of government debt is the basis of the bond market, a pillar of the global economy. Rather, it\u2019s the interest being paid to service it. As of September the U.S. spent $1.21 trillion to maintain the debt\u201417%\u00a0of total\u00a0federal spending<\/a>\u00a0in fiscal year\u00a02025. That interest rate is also increasing over time. Just a couple of years ago, in 2021, the rate of repayment by the U.S. government was, on average, 1.61%. Now it\u2019s 3.36%.<\/p>\n The likes of JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon<\/a>, Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio<\/a>, and Citadel CEO Ken Griffin<\/a> have all sounded the alarm from the private sector on government debt, and public committees are ramping up their warnings on Capitol Hill about the future of America\u2019s finances.<\/p>\n Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) and longtime advocate for responsible budgeting, expressed profound concern over the latest figures in a statement shared with Fortune. \u201cIt\u2019s tough to decide what the most appalling part is of today\u2019s announcement from the Treasury,\u201d MacGuineas said<\/a>: \u201cthat we surpassed an unprecedented $38 trillion in gross national debt; that we\u2019ll likely hit the next milestone in just a matter of months; or that we are getting this news amid a government shutdown with seemingly no end in sight.\u201d<\/p>\n Her statement underscored not just the size of the debt, but also the dysfunction surrounding it. The $38 trillion figure refers to gross national debt\u2014the cumulative total of all federal borrowing, including debt held by government accounts and the public. Even by economists\u2019 preferred metric, debt held by the public, MacGuineas argued that the situation is just as bad, with that figure \u201calready as large as our entire economy, beyond any point outside of a world war.\u201d<\/p>\n To her point, gross debt is currently around 123% of GDP and crossed the 100% threshold in late 2012, per federal data<\/a>. The Congressional Budget Office projected in March 2025<\/a> that \u201cfederal debt held by the public, boosted by sustained deficits, will grow far beyond any previously recorded level over the next 30 years.\u201d<\/p>\n Congressional Budget Office<\/p>\n The remarks from the CRFB head echoed those of another nonpartisan watchdog dedicated to fiscal sustainability, the Peter G. Peterson Foundation. In a previous statement to Fortune<\/a>, foundation CEO Michael A. Peterson described the $38 trillion debt figure, and the speed at which it is accelerating, as \u201cno way for a great nation like America to run its finances.\u201d The foundation\u2019s calculations underscored the acceleration of the debt issue. \u201cIf it seems like we are adding debt faster than ever, that\u2019s because we are. We passed $37 trillion just two months ago, and the pace we\u2019re on is twice as fast as the rate of growth since 2000.\u201d\u200b<\/p>\n For MacGuineas, one of the greatest dangers is not simply the debt itself, but the growing sense of complacency surrounding it. \u201cThe reality is that we\u2019re becoming distressingly numb to our own dysfunction,\u201d she said. \u201cWe fail to pass budgets, we blow past deadlines, we ignore fiscal safeguards, and we haggle over fractions of a budget while leaving the largest drivers untouched.\u201d<\/p>\n Proposals to tackle the debt<\/p>\n Both Republican and Democratic administrations have added to borrowing.<\/p>\n The Trump administration has shown an awareness of the issue and a readiness to address it. Indeed, Dalio has said he has seen a \u201cgreater realization\u201d from the current administration<\/a> about the perils of America\u2019s fiscal environment.<\/p>\n According to the Congressional Budget Office, President Trump\u2019s One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) will add $3.4 trillion to national debt by 2034. That number is the net of a decrease in spending of $1.1 trillion and a decrease in revenues of $4.5 trillion. The White House has repeatedly argued that the revenues expected to be generated by tariffs, estimated by the CBO at $3.3 trillion over the next decade, will effectively balance the books.<\/p>\n The CBO has calculated that President Trump\u2019s tariffs regime<\/a> has the potential to reduce deficits by $4 trillion over the next decade. Some Wall Street analysts agree that tariffs are relevant on this subject. For instance,\u00a0Apollo Global Management<\/a> chief economist Torsten Slok\u00a0said in September that the $350 billion in tariff revenue being generated each year was \u201cvery significant<\/a>,\u201d while J.P. Morgan Asset Management\u2019s chief global strategist, David Kelly, wrote earlier this week<\/a> that America was \u201cgoing broke slowly.\u201d<\/p>\n The\u00a0ratings agency S&P Global<\/a>\u00a0reaffirmed the U.S. credit rating, saying that \u201cbroad revenue buoyancy, including robust tariff income, will offset any fiscal slippage from tax cuts and spending increases.\u201d Still, the U.S. doesn\u2019t have a top credit rating at any of the\u00a0three<\/a>\u00a0major\u00a0ratings<\/a>\u00a0agencies, with two downgrades occurring in 2025.<\/p>\n![\"CBO\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/debt.png\"\/)
Federal debt held by the public as a percentage of GDP, as charted by the Congressional Budget Office.<\/p>\n