The U.S. national debt has hit a record $39 trillion. The deficit hit the milestone Wednesday just weeks into the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran.

The national debt surpassed a record $39 trillion on Wednesday, a milestone that comes just weeks into the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran.

The unprecedented figure highlights competing administration priorities, from passing a massive tax law and boosting defense spending and immigration enforcement to chipping away at the debt itself — the latter of which Donald Trump promised to do as both a candidate and as president.

  • lzrSnap@piefed.socialEnglish
    3·
    5 days ago

    How did you get the impression that default is the most likely outcome? Borrowing costs for the US are likely to rise, but there isn’t any particular reason to expect outright default.

    • village604@adultswim.fanEnglish
      1·
      4 days ago

      Other countries have discussed calling the US on their debt, so a default isn’t a preposterous assumption to make.

      But it’s all imaginary money and all countries could just decide to reset the counters to 0 if they wanted to.