Recently, entrepreneur Elon Musk just made headlines for becoming a trillionaire after his SpaceX company went public. For most Americans, it is difficult to comprehend the scale of a billion dollars, let alone a trillion dollars. The Wall Street Journal recently published an online article, “You Have No Idea What a Trillion Dollars Is—and We Have Proof,” that featured various interactive graphics which attempted to help people understand what a trillion would look like.
Grasping the magnitude of the national debt, which is currently over $39 trillion, proves equally challenging. Americans have grown numb as year after year the national debt continues to escalate. During the 1992 presidential campaign, Ross Perot made the $3 trillion national debt a central issue of his campaign. “The debt is like a crazy aunt we keep down in the basement, All the neighbors know she’s there, but nobody wants to talk about her,” stated Perot more than three decades ago.
For further perspective, journalist Terry Jefferey noted that “the last time the federal government ran a surplus — having collected more in taxes than it spent — was in fiscal 2001. That was a quarter of a century ago.” To illustrate what this debt burden would look like for an average American, researcher David Hebert stated that an individual who earns $64,000 per year would have nearly $500,000 in credit card debt if they carried the same debt ratio as the federal government.
Source: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/2026-chart-book-examines-spending-taxes-and-deficits/
Both political parties have taken their turns contributing to the escalating debt. While American voters seem to continually ignore our debt crisis, Perot, and others who sounded the alarm about the dangers of the escalating debt and continuous deficits, have been viewed as something akin to the “boy who cried wolf.” People keep hearing warnings about the danger of debt, but nothing changes in Washington.
Considered from a different measure, the national debt just reached another milestone when the debt to GDP (Gross Domestic Product) ratio eclipsed 100. This metric means that the national debt is now greater than the entire national economic output.
Source: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/2026-chart-book-examines-spending-taxes-and-deficits/
Megan McArdle, writing in The Washington Post described the debt crisis as “America’s Most Boring Nightmare.” Nevertheless, Americans need to realize that the out of-control spending, which is driving the debt crisis, is impacting them this very day. Similarly, Jessica Riedl, a Fellow with the Brookings Institution, argues that “the federal debt path is likely much more perilous than is commonly reported.”
The consequences of the national debt will only get worse. Programs such as Social Security and Medicare are the leading drivers of the federal spending that is responsible for the debt crisis. But as that debt level continues to rise it will only require higher interest payments, which will further crowd out other priorities in the federal budget.
“With debt levels set to soar, even modest interest rate movements carry enormous fiscal consequences. Each one percentage point increase in the rate paid on the federal debt would add roughly $57 trillion in interest costs over 30 years —approximately the cost of adding an entire additional Defense Department,” argues Riedl in describing the consequence of higher interest payments.
Source: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/2026-chart-book-examines-spending-taxes-and-deficits/
“But the longer policymakers defer the debt reckoning, the more painful it is likely to be, exacerbated by the threat of sharply higher inflation and interest rates, a weakened economy, financial market instability, and ultimately, higher taxes and lower federal benefits for Americans,” continued Riedl.
While Riedl focused primarily on the impact of the debt on the national economy, the consequences will also be felt here in Iowa. Like every state, Iowa depends heavily on federal funding to support a wide range of programs and services. As debt and interest costs continue to consume a larger share of the federal budget, Washington will face increasing pressure to reduce spending, forcing states and state legislatures to make difficult decisions about priorities and funding. A nation that continually borrows to finance its government weakens its economic foundation, limits its future options, and leaves future generations with the bill. Americans can no longer afford to treat the debt as a distant problem or a political talking point. The longer Washington delays action, the more painful the eventual reckoning will become. It is time for citizens to demand that policymakers confront the debt crisis, restore fiscal discipline, and begin the difficult but necessary work of reducing federal spending.
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