As the US Congress changes hands, there is one glaring issue into which no debate has ventured. A national debt that no other country in the world comes anywhere near, now running at a total of around $35.98 trillion. With a debt-to-GDP ratio of 122.84% and a recent hike in its interest expenses— now costing $1.133 trillion due to inflation and rising interest rates, the USA is spending 17% of its federal budget just to maintain its debt. This means that the country with the world's most potent military pays more on interest than it spends on defense, and is fast approaching its budgets for social security and Medicaid.
This is by no means a new issue. In 2007, US Comptroller General of the Government Accountability Office, David M. Walker compared the USA to the fall of the Roman Empire, undergoing a fiscal crisis built on a house of cards of unsustainable policies. In one year he would be proven right with the 2008 Financial Crisis.
