> It seems like no one who can do anything about it cares at all.

There is talk about it, but the views are wildly diverging.

Republicans' 'One Big Beautiful Bill' last year added $4.7 trillion dollars to the debt. [1] But even before last year's OBBB, the US already had by far the lowest taxes (fed + state + local) among the major advanced economies in the world; in fact, the US could have raised taxes by more than 15% and still been lowest. [2]

The US also has the lowest spending (fed + state + local) among them as well. [3]

But even though US spending is the lowest among them, its tax rates are so very low they still are not enough to cover even its lower spending.

(Of course, all of the above is dependent on someone believing that the US is capable of standing up to comparison with other major advanced economies in the world.)

If our spending is far lower than peer countries, and our taxes are far lower than peer countries, to me it seems like the obvious place to start would be getting tax rates closer to (even if still lower than) our peers, but 1 of the 2 big US political parties vehemently objects whenever Dems propose tax increases. So the can ends up getting kicked down the road if an agreement can't be reached.

The GOP will talk about cutting spending, but A) won't identify exactly what programs they'd cut and what % of US spending it'd save, and B) Republicans actually increase spending, not cut it, when they hold all branches of government - their actions are the opposite of their talk.

[1] https://www.reuters.com/world/us-debt-crosses-40-trillion-th...

[2] https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/weo-database/2025/ap...

[3] https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/weo-database/2025/Ap...

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Based on current events in the US 10y and 30y bonds, the end is coming quicker than people think or are prepared for.

I really don’t see a way out of this that isn’t high inflation (about 15%), lower dollar valuation, bonds taking a huge hit, unemployment moving up, etc.

I mean, just look at AI capex. It’s directly competing for US debt - and if the AI bet works out - results in even less taxable income for the government as human capital is replaced by AI. For something like 40 states, the biggest employer is healthcare/insurance intermediaries, which are absolutely ripe for replacement.

/remindme! I’d bet gold price doubles in the next 2 years.