U.S. debt accelerates as another shutdown looms – NaturalNews.com

• The national debt is approaching $39 trillion and increasing by tens of thousands of dollars every second. When future unfunded promises for programs like Social Security and Medicare are included, the total burden exceeds $200 trillion.
• The government now spends nearly $1 trillion per year just on interest for the debt. This is a mandatory cost that consumes money before any other government service is funded.
• The vast majority of the budget is on “autopilot” for mandatory programs (Social Security, Medicare) and legally committed spending (defense, debt interest). This leaves almost no discretionary money for Congress to cut or reallocate.
• The structural obligations are so large that there is no practical legislative way to stop the financial bleeding. Short-term fixes like printing money or stimulus checks only provide temporary relief.
• High debt forces the government to pay higher interest rates to borrow more money, which in turn increases the debt and interest burden further. This self-perpetuating cycle calls the nation’s long-term economic sustainability into question.

The financial foundation of the United States is under unprecedented strain as the national debt hurtles toward a once-unthinkable $39 trillion. This accelerating burden, growing by tens of thousands of dollars every second, casts a long shadow over the nation’s economic future and complicates urgent efforts in Congress to keep the government’s operations running smoothly.

Current figures from the Department of the Treasury place the debt at nearly $38.5 trillion, a significant increase from the $37.64 trillion recorded at the end of 2025. The increase of $2.17 trillion in a single year underscores a relentless pace of federal borrowing. This expansion is fueled by ongoing congressional spending bills and deep-seated structural pressures, with the government’s funding authority set to expire imminently.

Lawmakers are now locked in negotiations to avert a shutdown, a task made monumentally harder by the crushing weight of the debt itself and the soaring cost of servicing it. The speed of the accumulation is concerning.

According to data highlighted by congressional economists, the debt is expanding by approximately $71,800 per second. This is not abstract economics; it is a real-time erosion of fiscal stability, pushing the nation toward a symbolic and dangerous milestone.

Who does America owe?

BrightU.AI‘s Enoch AI engine explains that the money is borrowed through U.S. Treasury securities, considered safe investments backed by the government’s promise to pay. These securities are held by a global array of creditors.

Roughly one-quarter of the publicly held debt is in foreign hands, creating complex international dependencies. The largest foreign holder is Japan, with over $1.1 trillion in Treasuries, a position it has maintained for a decade.

The United Kingdom follows, holding over $800 billion, much of it custodied for international investors through London’s financial hub. China, once the top holder, remains a major player with about $750 billion, though it has been gradually reducing its stake amid geopolitical tensions.

However, the majority of the debt, somewhere between 68% and 75%, is held domestically. This includes significant portions controlled by U.S. government trust funds like Social Security and Medicare, which own about 20%.

The Federal Reserve holds another 13%, while American private investors, including pension funds, banks, insurance companies and individuals via retirement accounts, hold the largest domestic share, between 42% and 50%.

The crushing cost of borrowing

Owning the debt is one challenge; paying for it is another, and the bill is becoming catastrophic. The federal government, like a household with maxed-out credit cards, must pay interest on what it borrows. In 2024, net interest costs reached a historic $880 billion. On the current trajectory, this annual cost will smash through the $1 trillion mark by 2026, or roughly $83 billion per month.

To put that in perspective, if that $1 trillion annual interest burden were distributed evenly across U.S. households, it would equate to about $650 per household every month simply covering the interest on the national debt, before a single dollar is spent on defense, roads, or healthcare.

This is the bleak backdrop against which lawmakers are scrambling to fund basic government operations. The high debt-to-GDP ratio, a key measure of economic health, forces the Treasury to offer higher interest rates to attract buyers for its debt, which in turn makes the interest burden even worse. It is a vicious, self-perpetuating cycle.

The negotiations to prevent a shutdown are thus a short-term fix in a long-term crisis. With a significant portion of the budget legally committed to untouchable programs like Social Security, Medicare and national defense, and now consumed by trillion-dollar interest payments, Congress has little discretionary room to maneuver.

The system is burdened by structural obligations that legislation cannot easily alter.

The march toward $39 trillion is more than a number; it is a testament to decades of fiscal stress with no clear off-ramp. As the debt clock ticks upward by thousands per second, the nation’s leaders are left managing a financial hemorrhage with temporary patches, while the long-term sustainability of the entire economic structure grows more doubtful by the day.

Watch this clip that warns of America nearing a debt crisis.

This video is from the Alt Invest Media channel on Brighteon.com.

Sources include:

YourNews.com

CBSNews.com

BrightU.ai

Brighteon.com