New York US February 2 ANI America's national debt was at a new sobering milestone surpassing USD 30 trillion for the first time.
The total debt outstanding is now over USD 30 trillion, according to Treasury Department data.
In recent decades, the national debt has gone up in value, driven by the 2008 financial crisis and then the Pandemic.
Government borrowing accelerated during the COVID-19 epidemic, as Washington spent aggressively to cushion the economic blow from the crisis. Since the end of 2019, the national debt has gone up by around USD 7 trillion.
After many years of rock-bottom interest rates, the Federal Reserve is moving into inflation-fighting mode. The Fed is planning to launch its first series of rate hikes since 2015. Higher borrowing costs will make it harder to finance that mountain of debt.
David Kelly, chief global strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management said that it doesn't mean a short-term crisis, but it does mean that we are going to be poorer in the long term.
The Peter G Peterson Foundation said that interest costs could be over USD 5 trillion over the next 10 years and will amount to nearly half of the federal revenue by 2051, a plan that is intended to raise awareness of the fiscal challenge.
The federal government now owes almost $ 8 trillion to foreign and international investors, led by Japan and China. That will have to be paid back with interest.
That means American taxpayers will be paying for the retirement of the people in China and Japan, who are our creditors, said Kelly.