* More than a fifth of the treasury bond debt owed by the federal government is owed to... none other than the Federal Reserve, which is financially part of the federal government. Every year, more than a fifth of the debt interest payments made by the US Treasury go to the US Federal Reserve, which dutifully sends them all back to the US Treasury every year.[a]
* If you own any US treasury bonds (whether directly, in a 401(k), in some other kind of retirement or pension plan, or in an index fund), that's your share of the US national debt: It's the amount the federal government owes you.
* A dollar is an obligation of the US government, backed by its full faith and credit, just like a treasury bond, but unlike the bond, a dollar pays no interest. When the Fed buys and sells treasury bonds in the open market, it exchanges non-interest-bearing US obligations with interest-bearing ones.
Our financial system is more complex than most people grasp, due to a general lack of education in and understanding of macroeconomics. Be very wary of simple, seemingly obvious, morally appealing narratives. Usually, they're not even wrong.
[a] https://www.wsj.com/articles/higher-interest-rates-fuel-loss...