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U.S. national debt has surpassed and gone past $30 trillion for the very first time in history. This is information is according to the Treasury Department.

U.S. National Debt: Flurry of Borrowing and Spending

Exceeding the troubling threshold, it was followed by the federal government during a wave of borrowing and spending during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Roughly $7 trillion since January 2020, the national debt has expanded. It was, in fact, weeks before the pandemic began. The Trump and Biden administration did disperse stimulus payments. They also took other alternate measures to support the economy.

Paying Down the Debt Could Take Many Years

Equivalent to $231,000 per U.S. household and $90,000 per person is what the $30 trillion debt is equivalent to. This information is based on the Peter G. Peterson Foundation. Also, if every US household paid $1,000 per month to cover the debt, it, actually, would take 19 years to pay down the astronomical amount.

There is intragovernmental debt which the staggering figure includes. Also the money the federal does owe to itself. This would include Social Security trust funds. Plus debt is holding by public entities including businesses, pension plans, and insurance companies.

Foreign creditors including Japan, China, and the United Kingdom topped the list. They are owning more than $7.7 trillion.

Faster than was expected is what the U.S. government did exceed with the $30 trillion thresholds. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office did predict it would not occur until 2025.

An organization that is dedicating to fiscal responsibility is the Peter G. Peterson Foundation. Michael A. Peterson, the company
CEO has described the $30 trillion milestones as a “giant red flag for all of us about America’s future economic health, generational equity, and role in the world.”

The national debt has been going through the roof since the Great Recession when the debt was $9.2 trillion in December 2007,  this according to Treasury data.