https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/americas-finance-guide/national-debt/
"As of May 2024, the Peter G. Peterson Foundation estimated that each American would need to pay around $102,000 to pay off the U.S. national debt, which was over $34 trillion at the time. The foundation also noted that the debt is increasing at a nearly logarithmic rate. "
One day we might not have a stock market to trade.
It's tiresome to hear this view of our deficit, including the absurdity of "paying it off"; yet I admit that from the perspective of the private sector, and absent in-depth analysis, our deficit can not be distinguished from real debt. Only when looked at from the perspective of a disembodied government can it be recognized that what we call "government debt" is not debt at all. In reality, it is simply a consequence of the government a) having supplied the private sector with money for commerce while fulfilling its own needs for goods and services; b) having supplied sufficient money and bonds to support the Dollar's role as a reserve currency; c) having accommodated Congress's desired to spend without taxing equivalently. All of this new money created by deficit spending is first spent into the economy and then converted to Treasury securities before it is partially converted back, by the Fed, to non-interest paying money.
The aggregate deficit is the money left in the private sector economy after taxes. Without a deficit there would be no money left. With population growth and productivity gains, we can expect a higher and higher aggregate deficit*, or what the rest of you, and virtually all economists -- even the ones who know it is not -- call our "debt".
The level of government spending is important, but what we spend on is more important. When it comes to spending on investment the only constraint should be inflation, but because we tax too little at the high end, we run higher deficits than necessary and increase the risk of future inflation. During Reagan's administration, Congress collapsed the upper income tax brackets into one low bracket which accelerated both the growth rates of the deficit and wealth inequality.** The former risks future inflation; the latter, loss of our democracy. In fact we may have already lost our democracy and are simply living under an illusion.
For further discussion see:
https://www.levyinstitute.org/pubs/wp_900.pdf
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*Otherwise damaging deflation would result.
**Return on capital exceeds growth of GDP; thus those with invested disposable income, through the power of compounding, can grow their wealth exponentially over time compared with the relatively stagnant wealth of those without disposable income to invest.
