🚨THE US DEBT HASN'T BEEN THIS UNSUSTAINABLE EVER
The US government now has around $39 trillion in debt.
Right now, interest payments on that debt are already about $1.2 trillion per year.
In 2020, this number was below $400 billion.
So in just 6 years, interest costs have almost tripled.
Now here is the key issue.
A large portion of this debt was issued when interest rates were very low, around 0%-2%.
But that debt does not stay forever. It keeps getting refinanced.
Over the next 12 months, about $9 trillion of debt will mature and will need to be rolled over at current rates.
And today, new debt is being issued closer to 4%-5%.
So over time, more and more of the total debt will move from low rates to higher rates.
If you apply a simple assumption:
$39 trillion debt at 5% interest = about $1.95 trillion per year.
Now compare that with government finances.
• Total US government revenue: about $5 trillion per year
• Current interest: about $1.2 trillion
• Possible future interest: close to $2 trillion
That means interest alone could take up 35%-40% of total revenue.
And this is before spending on anything else.
At the same time, total government spending is already around $7 trillion per year, which means the US is running large deficits every year.
So the situation becomes:
• Debt keeps increasing
• Interest rates are higher than before
• More debt gets refinanced at a higher cost
This creates a cycle where interest payments keep rising automatically.
We are already seeing signs of this.
Interest is now one of the largest expenses in the US budget, behind only Social Security.
In recent data, the government has already spent more on interest than on defense or Medicare.
Looking forward, official projections also show the same trend.
Estimates suggest interest payments could reach around $2 trillion per year within the next decade and continue rising if debt keeps growing.
This is not because of one event. It is a structural issue.
