US national debt surpasses $34T for first time | Hacker News Reader

US national debt surpasses $34T for first time

thehill.com

4 pointsbelter5 comments

"The total public debt outstanding reached $34.001 trillion Friday, just more than three months after first crossing the $33 trillion mark."

So US is adding about $1T per quarter in deficit?

Serious question, do deficits matter? Does this need to be resolved and if so how?

Does it matter that you spend more than you earn? Deficits dont matter were politicians lies. Also you look at [1] you will notice the two years of explosion were 1983 and 2003. I let it as an exercise, to see what US Administrations were in government then and what War started the year 2003...

See table "U.S. National Debt Over the Last 100 Years - Inflation Adjusted - 2023 Dollars"

At a rate of a new Trillion every quarter, with a recession arriving and a possible increase in interest rates with further downgrades of US debt it is not sustainable: "As of November 2023 it costs $169 billion to maintain the debt, which is 16% of the total federal spending."

“Rather go to bed without dinner than to rise in debt.”

   - Benjamin Franklin

[1] "What is the national debt?" - https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/americas-finance-guide/natio...

What’s the interest on that things?

Its massive: 3.05%

"Average monthly interest rates on United States total interest-bearing debt from October 2018 to October 2023" - https://www.statista.com/statistics/1382455/monthly-interest...

Something around $1 trillion a year?

We’re lucky interest rates are low. However, with the 10 year around 4%, it’s going to be expensive.

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