US national debt exceeds $35 trillion for first time

Deficits caused by structural factors; aging baby-boom generation, rising healthcare costs, and poor tax system

WASHINGTON:

The US federal government's total public debt has surpassed 35 trillion US dollars for first time, as recorded at end of last week, according to data released by the Treasury Department Monday.

The total public debt outstanding climbed to 35 trillion dollars on Friday, according to the newly released Daily Treasury Statement. The data is updated at the end of each business day with data from the previous business day.

Just seven months ago, the US national debt surpassed 34 trillion dollars in late December 2023. Three months before that, the United States reached a historic milestone by passing 33 trillion dollars.

"The borrowing just keeps marching along, reckless and unyielding," said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, in a statement. "Yet despite all the risks and warning signs, these alarm bells seem to be falling on deaf ears."

"We are going to have to get serious about the debt, and soon. Election years cannot be an exception for trying to prevent completely foreseeable dangers -- and the debt is one of the major dangers we are facing," said MacGuineas.

According to the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, a nonpartisan organization focused on addressing US  long-term fiscal challenges, the national debt of 35.001 trillion dollars translates to 103,945 dollars of debt per person in the United States.

"Our deficits are caused mainly by predictable structural factors: our aging baby-boom generation, rising healthcare costs, and a tax system that does not bring in enough money to pay for what the government has promised its citizens," the foundation said.

Desmond Lachman, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a former official at the International Monetary Fund, told Xinhua earlier that "there can be no question that the U.S. budget deficit is on an unsustainable path."

The "dangerous trajectory" poses "serious questions for the dollar" and inflation's long-run outlook, Lachman said. ■