It is a well-known fact that the United States is buried under mountains of debt. But until when can the U.S. continue to borrow? The U.S. debt continues to increase at an alarming rate, and with a balanced budget looking unlikely at best, the U.S. catching up on its loans is infeasible. This early 20th century system was introduced to prevent excess spending of national funds.
The U.S. government is trapped in a vicious cycle of borrowing to pay interest on former loans, then paying borrowing more money to pay the interest on these loans.
But the system is all but useless; every time the U.S. debt threatens to exceed the debt ceiling, Congress raises it to a higher amount. Congress has already raised the debt ceiling 78 times since 1960, further emphasizing the low impact the debt ceiling has. This leaves effective budget planning as the only method of reducing the national debt.
Although the U.S. is unlikely to default on its loans anytime in the near future, it will eventually succumb to impossible levels of interest.
The fall of an economy such as the U.S.’s will have a massive global impact. It would not be an understatement to say that the world would be flipped on its head.
Ray Kim, Student Intern (Chattahoochee High School)
