[downrightmike]

Its worse than you think: The United States is currently experiencing a massive, accelerating debt crisis, with the gross federal debt surpassing $38 trillion as of late 2025.

It is growing by $1 trillion roughly every 82 days.

This debt level, which has exceeded 120% of the U.S. GDP,

[bhouston]

To be fair, the US has been growing its federal debt my whole life. It is one of those things that seems unsustainable but then it continues. Of course, it is sustainable because of US dollar dominance in the world and that may be faltering with Trump, especially if the Federal Reserve loses its independence.

[rpdillon]

Every sentence here seems reasonable, weird to see it gray.

I really do wonder what's going to end up happening with the debt...I think we've crossed the point of no return, but I'm not sure. Interest on the debt now exceeds military spending, and US military spending is about 40% of all NATO defense spending.

I've thought about this since I was young, and was fascinated that no one thought it was going to become a problem. There was a nice moment in the late 90s where the US reduced debt, but that was a blip.

[downrightmike]

Hyperinflation is most likely, pay the debt with useless dollars. Other option is Debt Jubilee, which the Gov't would need to force lenders to write off the debt.

All the petrodollar stuff seems like they are trying to keep the dollar valuable while it hyperinflates AKA knock everyone else's value down while being the most valuable even if it is like $1 trillion to $1 today