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by WILL FOLKS
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The American Republic reached another glaring, galling mile marker on its road to insolvency and the inflationary abyss this week when its national debt crossed the $40 trillion threshold.
The grim news was confirmed by the latest daily statement of the U.S. Treasury.
To put that number in perspective, it took our nation 200 years to rack up its first $1 trillion in debt. The most recent $1 trillion in red ink, on the other hand, was achieved over the last ninety-five days.
During the month of July, expenditures outpaced receipts by a staggering $432 billion – according to Treasury data. For the fiscal year that began last October, expenditures have outpaced receipts by $1.8 trillion.
That is the definition of unsustainable escalation. The definition of recklessness. The definition of insanity. And the blame for it is shared equally by leaders of both major political parties – including U.S. president Donald Trump, who vowed during his 2016 campaign to end deficit spending and start reducing the national debt but chose instead to embrace the Washington Swamp he was supposed to drain.
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Unlike the mainstream media, FITSNews has been consistently railing against the “perma-profligacy” of our nation’s leaders – including Trump – and the consequences of their ongoing failure to embrace fiscal responsibility.
“Within a decade, America will be staring down between $800 billion and $1 trillion in annual interest payments on its debt,” I noted in a column addressing this issue published in June… of 2013.
That day is now in the rearview mirror, as interest payments on the national debt are projected to eclipse $1.2 trillion by the time the federal fiscal year ends in September. That is triple the expense of just six years ago and the third largest expense on government’s ledger.
Thomas Massie, one of the few federal politicians currently challenging this insanity, was voted out of office by his constituents in Kentucky earlier this year after Trump targeted him for defeat.
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When I invented the debt badge, the national debt was just over $31 trillion. Today there are several of the debt badges I designed in circulation. Shout out to @csalazar3084 , @amitylee13 , @WayneWaldropW, & @modern_populist for posting their debt badges hitting $40 trillion. pic.twitter.com/LuaMSzob1Q
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) August 20, 2026
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Massie noted this week that the current interest payment alone amounts to “$4,000 per year per American.”
“That’s how much interest we are paying on the debt to banks and foreign countries every year,” Massie wrote on X. “A family of four owes $16,000 per year for nothing but interest on the debt!”
“I lost my re-election because I voted against the policies that caused this,” Massie lamented.
Zero Hedge, a national outlet which has consistently called out the unsustainable spending, warned America was entering an endgame “doom loop” in which the Treasury’s borrowing needs will continue to be driven up, resulting in new debt and higher interest costs.
“The federal budget is the enemy within,” Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the American Action Forum and a former Congressional Budget Office (CBO) wrote earlier this week. “It is the greatest threat to the foundations of economic progress, U.S. international economic standing, and national security. The only reason for optimism should be material actions to rein in the sea of red ink.”
The problem?
“There are no such material actions,” Holtz-Eakin noted.
BANNER VIA: GETTY IMAGES
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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