America’s ever-increasing pile of debt is now growing at a stunning pace, according to new numbers from the U.S. Treasury.
The agency’s “debt to the penny” database shows the national debt is ballooning by about $1 trillion every 100 days.
That’s a staggering $10 billion per day, $416.67 million per hour, $6.94 million per minute and $115,740 per second.
America’s total outstanding public debt now stands at $34.46 trillion – up from $34.39 trillion just one week ago.
The new data comes amid a warning from Wharton professor Joao Gomes, who tells Fortune that the spiraling debt could derail whoever wins the race for the White House.
“Toward the latter part of the decade we will have to deal with this. It could derail the next administration, frankly. If they come up with plans for large tax cuts or another big fiscal stimulus, the markets could rebel.
Interest rates could just spike right there, and we would have a crisis in 2025. It could very well happen. I’m very confident by the end of the decade one way or another, we will be there.”
Late last year, Moody’s reduced its US credit rating outlook from “stable” to “negative,” largely due to political gridlock in Congress.
“In Moody’s view, such political polarization is likely to continue. As a result, building political consensus around a comprehensive, credible multi-year plan to arrest and reverse widening fiscal deficits through measures that would increase government revenue or reform entitlement spending appears extremely difficult.”
This week, President Biden fleshed out a proposal to reduce the debt by $3 trillion by boosting taxes on corporations and billionaires.
With Republicans currently in control of the House, the plan is unlikely to pass.
