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UNBELIEVABLE: 5 | History Defined

'We're living on borrowed time': As national debt hits $39 trillion, a top diplomat warns of a crisis America isn't ready for

"It's one of those things that's almost like the old law," Richard Haass told Fortune. "It's fine until the day it's not."

Fortune

The Trump Administration’s proposed capital gains tax cut could add nearly $1 trillion to the national debt within the decade, think tank warns

“We need more revenue, not less,” Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget president Maya MacGuineas said.

Fortune

$39 trillion national debt is 'an embarrassing milestone,' think tank says. 'Clearly headed in the wrong direction'

"Markets are paying close attention to our fiscal situation, and every time we hit a new milestone, we risk spooking them," said Maya MacGuineas.

Fortune

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The national debt just crossed $39 trillion—almost doubling since Trump vowed to erase it

Budget experts agree on one thing. The debt is on an "unsustainable" trajectory.

Fortune

Elon Musk Backs Warren Buffett's 5-Minute Plan to Fix US National Debt Nearing $40T

Elon Musk has endorsed Warren Buffett's radical '5-minute' proposal to eliminate the US deficit as the national debt hits a record $39 trillion (£30.7 trillion) amid 2026 recession fears.

International Business Times UK

Stephen Miller blamed the entire national debt on “people who don’t belong here,” and the real numbers make his claim fall apart

Another baseless claim from a Trump official.

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‘This is the way’: Elon Musk endorses Warren Buffett’s famed 5-minute plan to fix the national debt

The richest man in the world joins prominent financial leaders in supporting a plan to lower the deficit to 3% of GDP.

Fortune

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Musk says taxing every billionaire at 100% would barely make a dent in the national debt. Bernie says tax them 5% and you're $3,000 richer

Elon Musk argues America’s $38 trillion debt is too big for billionaire taxes to fix, but Bernie Sanders says a 5% tax could at least put $3,000 back in your pocket.

Fortune

A 'debt spiral,' before a fiscal crisis: interest on the national debt will be growing faster than GDP in just 5 years, think tank warns

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget sees a critical threshold crossing by 2031—and the consequences could be nearly impossible to reverse.

Fortune

The national debt isn't $39 trillion. One economist says it's actually $100 trillion

"It's not a Ponzi scheme," Penn Wharton's Kent Smetters explained to Fortune. "It's a shell game."

Fortune

'The conflict in Iran demonstrates why we need to keep our national debt at a reasonable level': think tank sees economic emergency around the corner

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget warns that war spending could tip into a fiscal crisis — and it's calling for a pre-built escape plan.

Fortune

Trump just put Republicans' hold on the Senate at risk while sending the national debt higher, Morgan Stanley says

The firm's Global Investment Office just dropped a sweeping analysis of the U.S.-Iran conflict. It should alarm every Republican heading into the midterms.

Fortune

The $38.9 trillion national debt is costing you thousands of extra dollars per year on your mortgage. Here’s how it adds up

“The consistent pattern of deficit spending that has been the norm in the United States for many years has driven up costs for families."

Fortune

Trump’s economy was already exploding the national debt before his $1 billion-a-day war in Iran. Analysts warn about what's next

Where will you be in the third quarter of 2027?

Fortune

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Fortune

The U.S. borrowed $50 billion a week for the past five months, finds the CBO: 'Our fiscal problems will not solve themselves'

"We need policymakers to come together, agree to reduce deficits ... and put our national debt on a downward sustainable path as a share of the economy."

Fortune

America's never had such high national debt heading into an economic shock. We need a 'break glass' plan, think tank warns

The U.S. national debt has reached 100% of GDP—a level not seen since WWII. A leading fiscal watchdog is calling on Congress to build a "Break Glass Plan" before the next crisis hits.

Fortune

Trump touts tariffs as a budget fix. But the brutal truth is ‘they’re very weak’ and barely dent the $39 trillion national debt

An international tax policy expert told Fortune any form of tariff fails to “move the needle one way or the other.”

Fortune

Trump's loss of $1.7 trillion in tariff revenue will send the national debt to $58 trillion by 2036, think tank projects

The Supreme Court's invalidation of the president's sweeping import levies has blown a bigger hole in federal finances.

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Fortune

Interest on the $38.8 trillion national debt has tripled since 2020, and it already costs taxpayers more than defense and Medicaid

Here’s when Medicare falls below interest costs, according to CBO projections.

Fortune

More people are moving out of the U.S. than moving in for the first time since the Great Depression—a bad omen for the $38.8 trillion national debt

How Trump’s immigration crackdown could erase “the most potent fiscal engine this country has ever seen.”

Fortune

Trump didn’t mention the $38.8 trillion national debt once in his State of the Union, but 90% of voters are worried

“Kitchen table cost-of-living issues” are top of mind right now, the Peter G. Peterson Foundation says, and voters connect them to the spiraling national debt.

Fortune

Days before the national debt is due to hit $39 trillion, President Trump didn’t mention it once during the longest State of the Union ever

He did mention debt as a concept when he commemorated “the debt we owe to the heroes who came before us.”

Fortune

New CBO report shows national debt spiraling into uncharted territory by 2035—and Trump's tariffs defeat will make the picture even worse

By 2035, the CBO expects the deficit to reach $2.96 trillion or 6.2% of GDP versus 5.8% today, and almost double the multi-decade, pre-pandemic average.

Fortune

Trump’s tariffs are a ‘dirty tax’ that will make the $38.6 trillion national debt crisis even worse over the long term, top analyst says

“The idea that this is pro-American is actually just the opposite,” Wharton’s Kent Smetters told Fortune. “It hurts American manufacturers.”

Fortune

$56 trillion national debt leading to a spiraling crisis: budget watchdog warns the U.S. is walking a crumbling path

Trump is putting the U.S. economy on a "sugar high" and leaving other people holding the bill when it comes due a decade from now, according to the CRFB.

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