Take Another Look at the National Debt

It was only a few weeks ago, on June 3, that President Biden signed the bill suspending the US national debt ceiling.  At that time the national debt was $31.4 trillion.

Now, less than three weeks later, it has climbed $700 billion.  The national debt is now $32.1 trillion.

And that is why investor Ray Dalio told Bloomberg investment conference attendees last week that we have a problem.  “We are at the beginning of a late, big-cycle debt crisis when you are producing too much debt and have a shortage of buyers,” Dalio said.

Beginning with the public debt as a percentage of GDP, here are a few graphics from the Peterson Foundation to help drive home the scale of our problem:

How long can anyone or any government continue to spend more than they earn?