WASHINGTON: In the midst of a federal government shutdown, the US government’s gross national debt surpassed $38 trillion Wednesday, a record number that highlights the accelerating accumulation of debt on America’s balance sheet.
It’s also the fastest accumulation of a trillion dollars in debt outside of the COVID-19 pandemic — the US hit $37 trillion in gross national debt in August this year.
The $38 trillion update is found in the latest Treasury Department report, which logs the nation’s daily finances.
Kent Smetters of the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Wharton Budget Model, who served in President George W. Bush’s Treasury Department, told The Associated Press that a growing debt load over time leads ultimately to higher inflation, eroding Americans’ purchasing power.
The Government Accountability Office outlines some of the impacts of rising government debt on Americans — including higher borrowing costs for things like mortgages and cars, lower wages from businesses having less money available to invest, and more expensive goods and services.
“I think a lot of people want to know that their kids and grandkids are going to be in good, decent shape in the future — that they will be able to afford a house,” Smetters said. “That additional inflation compounds” and erodes consumers’ purchasing power, he said, making it less possible for future generations to achieve home ownership goals.
The Trump administration says its policies are helping to slow government spending and will shrink the nation’s massive deficit. A new analysis by Treasury Department officials states that from April to September, the cumulative deficit totaled $468 billion. In a post on X Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that’s the lowest reading since 2019.
“During his first eight months in office, President Trump has reduced the deficit by $350 billion compared to the same period in 2024 by cutting spending and boosting revenue,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement, adding that the administration would pursue robust economic growth, lower inflation, tariff revenue, lower borrowing costs and cuts to waste, fraud and abuse.
The Joint Economic Committee estimates that the total national debt has grown by $69,713.82 per second for the past year.
Michael Peterson, chair and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, said in a statement that “reaching $38 trillion in debt during a government shutdown is the latest troubling sign that lawmakers are not meeting their basic fiscal duties.”
“Along with increasing debt, you get higher interest costs, which are now the fastest growing part of the budget,” Peterson added. “We spent $4 trillion on interest over the last decade, but will spend $14 trillion in the next ten years. Interest costs crowd out important public and private investments in our future, harming the economy for every American.”
The US hit $34 trillion in debt in January 2024, $35 trillion in July 2024 and $36 trillion in November 2024.
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US hits $38 trillion in debt, after the fastest accumulation of $1 trillion outside of the pandemic
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US hits $38 trillion in debt, after the fastest accumulation of $1 trillion outside of the pandemic
- Expert warns that the growing debt load over time leads ultimately to higher inflation, eroding Americans’ purchasing power
- The Trump administration says its policies are helping to slow government spending and will shrink the nation’s massive deficit
ASEAN should adhere to rule of law in face of ‘unilateral actions,’ Philippines’ top diplomat says
- Several ASEAN members have expressed deep concern over the US strike that resulted in the arrest of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro
- Philippines’ top envoy: ‘Across our region, we continue to see tensions at sea, protracted internal conflicts and unresolved border and humanitarian concerns’
CEBU, Philippines: Southeast Asian countries should steadfastly maintain restraint and adhere to international law as acts of aggression across Asia and “unilateral actions” elsewhere in the world threaten the rules-based global order, Manila’s top diplomat said Thursday.
Philippine Foreign Secretary Theresa Lazaro did not provide details of the geopolitical alarm she raised before her counterparts in the 11-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations who were holding their first major closed-door meetings this year in the Philippines’ central seaside city of Cebu.
Several ASEAN members, however, have expressed deep concern over the secretive US strike that resulted in the arrest of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro on orders from US President Donald Trump. China’s intensifying aggressive stance on Taiwan and in the disputed South China Sea have also troubled the region for years.
Calling out the US and China, among the largest trading and defense partners of ASEAN countries, have been a dilemma and diplomatic tightrope.
“Across our region, we continue to see tensions at sea, protracted internal conflicts and unresolved border and humanitarian concerns,” Lazaro said in her opening speech before ASEAN counterparts.
“At the same time, developments beyond Southeast Asia, including unilateral actions that carry cross-regional implications, continue to affect regional stability and erode multilateral institutions and the rules- based international order,” she said.
“These realities underscore the interim importance of ASEAN’s time-honored principles of restraint, dialogue and adherence to international law in seeking to preserve peace and stability to our peoples.”
The Philippines holds ASEAN’s rotating chair this year, taking what would have been Myanmar’s turn after the country was suspended from chairing the meeting after its army forcibly ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s democratically elected government in 2021.
Founded in 1967 in the Cold War era, ASEAN has an unwieldy membership of diverse countries that range from vibrant democracies like the Philippines, a longtime treaty ally of Washington, to authoritarian states like Laos and Cambodia, which are close to Beijing.
The regional bloc adopted the theme “Navigating our future, Together” this year but that effort to project unity faced its latest setback last year when deadly fighting erupted between two members, Thailand and Cambodia, over a longtime border conflict.
Aside from discussing the deadly fighting that embroiled Thailand and Cambodia before both forged a US-backed ceasefire last year, the ASEAN foreign ministers will deliberate how to push a five-point peace plan for the war in Myanmar, issued by the regional bloc’s leaders in 2021. The plan demanded, among others, an immediate end to fighting and hostilities, but it has failed to end the violence or foster dialogue among contending parties.
ASEAN foreign ministers are also under pressure to conclude negotiations with China ahead of a self-imposed deadline this year on a so-called “code of conduct” to manage disputes over long-unresolved territorial rifts in the South China Sea. China has expansive claims in the waterway, a key global trade route, that overlap with those of four ASEAN members, the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei.
Philippine Foreign Secretary Theresa Lazaro did not provide details of the geopolitical alarm she raised before her counterparts in the 11-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations who were holding their first major closed-door meetings this year in the Philippines’ central seaside city of Cebu.
Several ASEAN members, however, have expressed deep concern over the secretive US strike that resulted in the arrest of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro on orders from US President Donald Trump. China’s intensifying aggressive stance on Taiwan and in the disputed South China Sea have also troubled the region for years.
Calling out the US and China, among the largest trading and defense partners of ASEAN countries, have been a dilemma and diplomatic tightrope.
“Across our region, we continue to see tensions at sea, protracted internal conflicts and unresolved border and humanitarian concerns,” Lazaro said in her opening speech before ASEAN counterparts.
“At the same time, developments beyond Southeast Asia, including unilateral actions that carry cross-regional implications, continue to affect regional stability and erode multilateral institutions and the rules- based international order,” she said.
“These realities underscore the interim importance of ASEAN’s time-honored principles of restraint, dialogue and adherence to international law in seeking to preserve peace and stability to our peoples.”
The Philippines holds ASEAN’s rotating chair this year, taking what would have been Myanmar’s turn after the country was suspended from chairing the meeting after its army forcibly ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s democratically elected government in 2021.
Founded in 1967 in the Cold War era, ASEAN has an unwieldy membership of diverse countries that range from vibrant democracies like the Philippines, a longtime treaty ally of Washington, to authoritarian states like Laos and Cambodia, which are close to Beijing.
The regional bloc adopted the theme “Navigating our future, Together” this year but that effort to project unity faced its latest setback last year when deadly fighting erupted between two members, Thailand and Cambodia, over a longtime border conflict.
Aside from discussing the deadly fighting that embroiled Thailand and Cambodia before both forged a US-backed ceasefire last year, the ASEAN foreign ministers will deliberate how to push a five-point peace plan for the war in Myanmar, issued by the regional bloc’s leaders in 2021. The plan demanded, among others, an immediate end to fighting and hostilities, but it has failed to end the violence or foster dialogue among contending parties.
ASEAN foreign ministers are also under pressure to conclude negotiations with China ahead of a self-imposed deadline this year on a so-called “code of conduct” to manage disputes over long-unresolved territorial rifts in the South China Sea. China has expansive claims in the waterway, a key global trade route, that overlap with those of four ASEAN members, the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei.
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