The U.S. gross national debt surpassed a record $40 trillion, the Treasury Department said Wednesday.
The number serves as a milestone on a path of ever-expanding government debt, driven higher by a relentless combination of repeated tax cuts and rising spending on war, economic stimulus and social welfare programs.
The debt has been accumulating for decades, but the pace of its growth is accelerating. Just this year alone, the federal government will run a budget deficit of more than $2 trillion. About half of that deficit spending will go toward interest payments on debt already incurred — an expense that is rising rapidly as interest rates move higher and the underlying debt continues to grow. Over the past 12 months, the debt increased by about $2.9 trillion, or 7.8%.
“The gross national debt has doubled in the last 10 years; in less than 20 years, it has quadrupled,” said Maya MacGuineas of the Committee on a Responsible Federal Budget, which has long called for deficit reduction. “It is staggering how predictable the fiscal decline of a global power can become.”
For analyses of the debt and how we got to $40 trillion, see these pieces at CNN, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.